Daughter Of The Blackbird
by CarnavalMacabre
Summary: What happens when Shizuka Kurotori, the girl with 3 Kekkai Genkai and jinchuriki to one of the twin dragon demons, moves to Konoha, joins team 7 and maybe even finds love? Full summary inside! Sasuke/OC !
1. Prologue

Summary: Shizuka Kurotori is the last of the Kurotori clan, which was once considered to be the strongest clan in the village hidden in the clouds. They were the only clan in the village that had a Kekkai Genkai, a blond line trait. Shizuka's mother had been an Uchiha, but with a Hyuuga as a mother, and Shizuka's father was the younger brother of the head of the Kurotori clan. When the clan is exiled and killed later on Shizuka is the only one to survive. Follow her when she joins her mother's people of Konoha, joins up with team seven and maybe even finds love?

A.N.: NEW STORY! Bam! Anyway this is my first Naruto fanfic, so be nice! It is a romance fic! (I like those!) And it's rated T for some gory bloody gross stuff, and kissing later on. The main couple in this one will be Sasuke/OC, and a little bit of NaruHina, and maybe some InoShika, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with Sakura, but I can promise there will be some jealous fangirl-ness when my OC "steals" Sasuke away from her. Anyway on with the fic! OH! And this one might end up being really long, just warning ya!

DISCLAIMER! If I owned Naruto I'd be filthy rice now wouldn't I? To bad I don't right?

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Prologue:

(Shizuka Kurotori's POV)

_I stood in the middle of the village. On the roof of the tallest building, with the demon staring me right in the eye. _

_The demon I'd thought was my friend. The demon I treated as if he was my big brother, Ryoto. Now here he stood to wreck havoc against my village. He stood in front of me, with the blood of the villagers on his claws. _

_The blood of my friends and the blood of my mother, lying dead at his feet. But the worst betrayal was the blood of his own twin brother, who had tied to protect me against even his own family. He had attacked his own brother to protect me. _

_Tatsuhiro, who to me was just as much like an older brother too, was crawling on the ground trying to protect me still. The three bloody gashes on his writhing form from his brother bird-like claws. _

_My Byaringan eye bore into the demon. My usually blind left eye, the result of having too many Kekkai Genkai in one body, shown with the power of both the Hyuuga's Byakugan and the Uchiha's Sharingan. Little is invisible to my eye, and Ryoto's powers were far from what is. _

_He was obviously much stronger then I am. A weak 10 year old kunoichi who got kicked out of the ninja village at the age of 8 without even becoming genin. The leader of Kumogakure, the Raikage, only let me and my mother stay in the village due to my father. My mother was from Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves, not welcome in the village hidden in the clouds. Therefore we had been kicked out after my father died an early death in battle. _

_Staring into the eyes of my dragon demon brother, I knew what I had to do. Making two simple but deadly hand signs I called upon the reaper of death. I would protect those who were still alive, even if it cost my life. _

_To seal my brother's soul inside me, I would have to forfeit my life to the reaper of death. I was all to willing if it meant saving the life of the people around me. _

_It was quick and I felt no pain. That is in till I woke up in the hospital. I was alive. The jutsu that should have killed me… didn't. _

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Just so you know Shizuka's name does have a meaning that's important to the story

Shizuka means "quiet" and Kurotori literally means "blackbird", just so that you know.

You know if you took all the author notes in this it would probably be as long as the whole prologue itself! LOL! Gotta write longer chapters!


	2. A New Home

Disclaimer: I asked Santa but he wouldn't give me Naruto so I guess I have to write a disclaimer… I don't own Naruto, it belongs too… I don't even know. Whatever! On with the FIC!

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Chapter one: A New Home

(The big brother's POV)

"Onii-san, where were you?" Shizuka asked her dragon brother curiously. The now thirteen year old half-blind girl was always curious like a small child. She'd traveled her whole life but never been to this area of the world before, though she knew why. The land of fire was host to the village where her mother had been born, but her mother was a rogue ninja in her time. The people of Konoha most certainly would have heard of her. She was born into the two strongest clans in the village hidden in the leaves. The Hyuuga clan's Byakugan and the Uchiha clan's Sharingan had both been in her possession before she died.

"I think, I may have found you a home." Tatsuhiro told her, smiling at her calling him big brother. "Really? Where?" She asked animatedly. "In Konoha. I spoke with the Hokage, she going to allow you to live there as just another kunoichi. She said that she wouldn't put you in the normal class but she'd have the youngest of the genins help you out and eventually you can go out on missions and such as a normal ninja. She agrees that even though you are of another villages blood you are still an Uchiha and a Hyuuga, despite holding the Kurotori name. I spoke to some of the genins too and they seem like a nice bunch for the most part. Among them are also those considered to be the Hyuuga clan's and Uchiha clan's prodigies they can help with your Byaringan perhaps." The dragon in a human form told her.

"In Konoha… where my mother was born… But where will we live?" Shizuka asked him. "You will be living in a small apartment that I've managed to get. It's no resort but you're used to that anyway."Tatsuhiro replied putting extra emphasis on the "you". "You're not coming with me are you, Onii-san?" The young teenager asked. "No. I'll drop you off and I'll come to visit but that's all. I won't be living with you any longer. You're old enough to take care of yourself. You're mature enough. Plus if you have any trouble the Hokage is willing to help out and if you really need me then you can asked her to send someone to find me, but don't ask simply because you miss me. She a nice woman, a little hardheaded and tough but she'll always be around to help if needed." He told the sad looking girl.

Shizuka wasn't surprised by the fact that her brother wasn't going to live with her. It's true she was only thirteen but she, despite acting like a young child most of the time, was very mature. She only acted like a child to push away all the bad memories for she had felt the hardships that sometimes occurred in the Shinobi life. She was the last Kurotori, Shizuka Kurotori, and jinchuriki to one of the twin dragon demons. She new thing went wrong sometimes, and once things going wrong saved her life. When the dragon was sealed inside her she should have died but she didn't now did she?

(Switching to Tsunade's POV)

It was about an hour before sunset when the young girl and her fake-brother approached the gates of the village hidden in the leaves. The gates were open and in the middle stood none other then the Hokage, Lady Tsunade, herself. She smiled when she saw the young girl half hiding behind the dragon demon.

The girl was small, though average height she was super skinny. She wore a light grey blue kimono with cherry blossoms for a pattern and a silt up the side for easier movement and a partially open back. Her hair was a dark brown which was nearly black contrasted nicely with her light kimono. Her bangs covered her left eye, it's lavender-white color barely with beneath the dark fringes. Her right eye was a vibrant blue-green though and her lashes long.

Her posture was stiff signaling that she was shy. Tsunade smiled, Tatsuhiro had told her all about the young Kurotori. She was only shy in till she's know your name then she as happy-go-lucky as if you were an old friend.

"Hello, nice to meet you Shizuka. I'm Tsunade but most call me Hokage or Lady Hokage. You can call me whatever you like though." Tsunade introduced herself. Shizuka waved, still hiding behind her brother.

"HEY! Grandma Tsunade! Is that the new girl?" Naruto yelled from behind them running up. "Stop calling me Grandma!" Tsunade fumed, obviously angry. Shizuka giggled, making them turn their attention back to her. "Naruto, why don't you make yourself useful and show Shizuka here around?" Tsunade told the hyper blond genin. "OK!" Naruto yelled loudly. "Let's go Shizuka!"

(Switching over to Shizuka's POV, I know this is a lot of switching but I promise that it won't normally be like this)

The young teenager looked at her brother. "Go on. I'll find you later and show you the apartment, but right now I've got to go talk to Tsunade. I'll see you later." He said to her. She nodded and walked over to Naruto's side with unparalleled grace.

The crazy blond began to drag her around the village, pointing out random things. Finally he decided to show her the view from the top of the cliff on the head of the previous Hokages. "You're really the quiet kind of person aren't you Shizuka-san?" Naruto asked after they sat down at the top, noticing that he was supplying the entire conversation. "I guess so, I'm not normally this quiet but… I haven't lived in a ninja village in nearly five years so I'm still trying to imagine what it's normally like around here. It was always really hectic where I used to live, then again that could have just been my status above the others of the village." Shizuka giggled.

"Your status? And where did you used to live anyways? Grandma Tsunade never did tell us." Naruto asked curiously. "I'm the niece of the Raikage, but I didn't like it in the village hidden in the clouds so I left." She answered simply not wanting to go into detail. "Niece of the Raikage? Cool!" Naruto yelled loudly, again. Shizuka merely shrugged, not saying a word.

Her uncle was not a "cool" thing to talk about. He had first exiled his own clan, including her, and then had sent one of the twin dragon demons to kill them off. She and her uncle were the last living Kurotori's.

It wasn't long after that her brother came up with a grin on his face. "Onii-san, why are you grinning like that?" She asked. "I'm just happy. Come on I'll show you the apartment, Naruto you can come too if you'd like." Her brother said. "No thanks, I was supposed to meet Kakashi-sensei half and hour ago anyways." Naruto replied calmly. "Half and hour ago?" Shizuka questioned, surprised. "Trust me Kakashi-sensei's always so late that he's probably not going to be there for another half hour anyway, but I'd best get going just in case he comes earlier then normal. See you later, Shizuka-san!" Naruto laughed before hoping the railing and running along the roofs of the buildings to wherever he had to go.

"Come on Shizuka." Her brother called already a few meters away. "I'll race you." He laughed before he started running. "Cheater!" The young teenager yelled bolting after him. They laughed the whole way there, and some people that didn't even know them laughed too seeing the too teens racing like small children. It wasn't long before Shizuka caught up with him but she still couldn't past he for he kept increasing his speed. Tatsuhiro suddenly stopped and Shizuka went flying past him. She flung herself around to a stop and stared at her brother. "We're here." He smiled.

Her brother led her up the stair to the third and top floor of the building. It wasn't a large building, only holding twelve units but it was a nice place on the outside. He led her up to the door that was numbered nine and pulled out a key. "I'll let you do the honors, Shizuka." He said handing it to her.

She opened the door slowly. She took a couple steps into her new apartment. It was amazing, small but amazing. Huge windows at the far end over looking a small lake, a small couch and TV, an oval-shaped coffee table, a good sized kitchen for one who liked to cook. She gasped at her brother he'd told her that the apartment was nothing much, but it was perfect. She wandered around and found a clean little bathroom with a tub and a bedroom. The bedroom was just as pretty, with a small balcony that wrapped around the corner and also had a door to the living room. It had a view of the lake from the glass door to the balcony and a double bed covered in beige and white sheets with a tree like pattern and simple light purple walls. A white dresser replaced the lack of a closet, but Shizuka didn't have that much stuff anyways.

Taking a few gentle steps onto the balcony Shizuka looked out onto the small lake, watching how the slowly setting sun danced on the waters surface, igniting it in a fury of sparkly color. She eyed the lake that seem to be turned orange noticing for the first time the boy who sat at the end of the small dock. He had his legs in the water, his shoes sitting beside him. She couldn't see his face, only his spiked raven hair and blue clothes. He look deep in thought, but not deep enough to not notice her staring. He looked up revealing a sharp face and obsidian eyes that showed no emotion. They merely stared at each other like that for a while, obsidian and teal clashing silently.

It was Shizuka who pulled away, rushing inside when she noticed a pick-haired girl approaching the boy on the dock. "What were you staring at Sasuke-kun?" The rosette asked him. "Hn. Nothing." The raven-haired boy mumbled, sparing a last glance at Shizuka's empty balcony before leaving with the girl following right behind him. Shizuka sighed happy that he hadn't said anything for some reason she couldn't understand.

Shaking her head at her worry she return to the living room, to find her brother sitting on the couch with a plate of onigiri on the coffee table in front of him and the TV on. She smile at her brother who had obviously made her favorite food. "I'll be leaving in the morning, but I wanna know, what do you think of it here?" Tatsuhiro asked his little human sister.

"I love it…" was her only response.

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AN!:

Just saying this now, Shizuka and the rookie nine are 13 at the beginning of this fic. It all starts right after the Chunin exams. And since they didn't say specifically how long their was between then and when Sasuke ran off with Orochimaru I'm saying that it was a few months, like four or five k? I will explain more and have pictures up of what Shizuka and her brother look like and such later. (AKA once I get off my lazy ass and draw them :D )

Oh, and because I know the prologue was really confusing I'll probably redo it but for now I'll explain the twin dragon demons.

Ryoto is the one who got sealed inside Shizuka when she was ten. I won't say why he killed the village she lived in at the time because it will pop up later.

Ok, then there's Tatsuhiro, or as Shizuka calls him "Onii-san". He's Ryoto twin brother and the nicer one of the bunch. When Ryoto killed Shizuka's mother he dedicated himself to taking care of Shizuka. His human form makes him appear to be around 19 but he's really a few hundred year old dragon.

The twins also have human forms which they run around in, and together the twins have about the same strength as the nine-tailed fox, but alone half of that. The two were once considered to be gentle demon, simply avoiding contact with humans as much as possible, but in the past few years they twins have faded into myth, people refusing to believe that they were the cause of the Kurotori clans death, instead believing that it was simply those who killed them trying to cover themselves up.


	3. First day in Konoha

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but Shizuka is mine! Mine! (Yes, I realize that you probably think im insane but NEWSFLASH I really don't care! :D)

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Chapter 2: First Day In Konoha

(AN: Shizuka's POV, and it will be like that in less I say otherwise so I'm going to stop pointing this out every time.)

Shizuka woke up to the smell of bacon cooking. She took a sniff, realizing that it smelt burnt. She sighed; her brother never was the best cook. Getting out of her new bed in nothing but her nightgown, she ran to stop her brother from setting the whole place on fire. She took the bacon of the stove burner throwing them onto a plate before taking a look at the hash browns on the other burner. They appear to still be cooking properly.

She turned to her brother who was looking around guiltily. "Sorry Shizuka. I tried to make you breakfast in bed for our last day together but… well, you know." He said. She laughed, "You know cereal would have been good enough."

"I know but today is a special occasion! You're going to live on your own now! My little sister living by herself!" Tatsuhiro said sadly. "Oh stop being so emotional I'll be fine. Come on, go grab another plate; I'll get the hash browns." Shizuka laughed at her worried brother. They ate breakfast together at the small kitchen table that only had two chairs, saving what wasn't burnt of the bacon and eating it.

After a bit of relaxing because of her accidental early wake up, she got up to go get dressed out of her nightgown and into her normal grey kimono. After getting dressed her brother told her that she had ten minutes to get ready before he'd show her where she be meeting with the leaf genins. She threw her long hair up in her usual bun and put on her sandals (A.N. and no she doesn't wear those ugly ninja shoes that everybody else does she has gladiator sandals and the nice ones too and she DOESN'T wear them with socks ugh bad fashion choice those bother me more then the fact that Naruto wears and orange jump suit the whole series but Rock Lee's clothes are sadly still worse).

Her brother came out of the bathroom dressed in his usual clothes which just consisted of a black tee, a pair of jeans and yes, those tacky ninja shoes in blue. "Let get going, Shizuka." He said. Grabbing her key she followed her brother out the door. She locked it and threw the key in the planter box beside the door, deciding that it would be easier to leave it there then carry it around with her all the time.

They walked down the quiet morning street people just beginning to come outside. Tatsuhiro lead her around the village and finally to what looked like a ninja school. Before he lead her inside he turned to his little sister smiling. "I'll show you inside to class and then I have to leave ok? I'll come to visit soon, but in till I come back in a month, don't tell anyone about your Kekkai Genkai, alright? Tsunade is the only one in the village who knows, so keep your emotions in check and only use Byaringan and only if you absolutely need to. You'll be in classes in till I get back and then you be placed in a new group with the Genins. As I understand one of them just recently became Chunin so there an empty spot among their ranks. After that you'll be just another Genin."

"Ok, Onii-san. But why can't I tell them about my Kekkai Genkai?" Shizuka asked quietly. "Because I'll tell them personally later on, but its best if they don't know for the time being. If the find out about your Byaringan it's not a huge deal but you know how people are when they see your other Kekkai Genkai… It's best if they don't know, especially right now and about my brother too, but you already knew that." Her brother said referring to her last Kekkai Genkai, the Kekkai Genkai of the Kurotori clan. It was true people did react… strongly to her last Kekkai Genkai. "Right… Ok, Onii-san, I won't tell them." Shizuka agreed. "Let's go in then, the teacher's waiting." He said, leading her inside.

They walked up to the door hearing that the teacher inside was talking about them already explaining a bit about who would be going to join the group of Genins. You could tell the teacher hadn't received a lot of information but he tried. Shizuka's brother knocked lightly on the door twice. The teacher opened the door, and invited them in.

He was a tall fairly young man with brown hair and a scar on his face across the bridge of his nose. Her brother walked in and Shizuka followed, half hiding behind him. The classroom was simple, just a whole bunch of desks, a lot empty due to the lack of a normal sized class. The teacher had them all sitting in front sitting three beside each other in the front few rows. Her single eye surveyed the class realizing that it was only eleven students, looking around she saw Naruto, and the pink-haired girl from the night before, and finally sitting in the very back row, with the rosette clinging to his side was the raven-haired boy from the docks last night. The others she didn't recognize, but did notice the two Hyuuga's, a girl and a boy, their distinctive pearl like eyes standing out.

"Students this is Shizuka Kurotori. Say hi and be nice. She'll be placed in one of your groups depending on how she does this next month." The teacher said. "HI SHIZUKA-SAN!" Naruto yelled. I noticed how the raven-haired boy's gaze never left me while everybody else sighed and rolled their eyes at Naruto. Everyone else mutter a hey too except him and the Hyuuga boy. A boy with a green jumpsuit and orange leggings got up on the desk and scream almost as loud as Naruto about how happy he was have yet another youthful student amongst them, or something of that sort. "Lee, get down!" The teacher yelled. "Sorry Iruka-sensei." Lee said, sitting back down between the Hyuuga boy and a girl with her hair in two buns a top her head.

"Alright then, now that things finally settled down, Shizuka you can take the seat beside Sasuke in the back row." Iruka-sensei turned to the girl who was still hiding behind her brother. "Ok, see you in a month, little sis. Bye." Her brother said pulling Shizuka in front of him and giving her a shove towards her seat beside the raven-haired Uchiha. With a single tear in her eye she hugged her brother goodbye and turned to her seat with one last word. "Onii-san…"

And with that the teacher began explaining how things were going to be for the next month. He told us that since all of us have been through ninja school before it wouldn't be anything like that but more like a group training for the first week and then splitting into partners and switching partners every other day or so. He explained that first, today, we would simply do a review of everything we learnt in ninja school and leave early but that tomorrow they were actually going to be training with each other.

As promised the day was short some stay to speak with Shizuka commenting on her great technique during class when Iruka-sensei had asked her to perform a simple clone.

The Hyuuga boy, whose name she'd learnt was Neji, said something about his normal teacher wanting his group to train later or something and he left with Lee, and the girl with the two buns, Tenten.

Sasuke, who she had learnt was the Uchiha of the group and, along with the rosette, Sakura, were Naruto's teammates. After the others left it was only those four. Naruto said that he'd pay for lunch for the four of them so long as we went for Ichiraku's ramen. Sakura agree, and Sasuke hn'd getting dragged along by Sakura the fangirl. Having nothing else to do but sit in her apartment munching on onigiri, Shizuka also agreed to join them.

When they finally finished Naruto gasped at the cost. "Your fault for eating 10 bowls of ramen, Teme." Sasuke grumbled. "Shut up dobe, you ate 9 bowls yourself, while the girl only had one each." Naruto claimed. "Baka… You said you'd pay though so see you." Sasuke muttered hoping out of his seat and walking away with Sakura right on his heels. "See ya' Naruto, thanks for the meal." She said.

Shizuka looked at Naruto who had gone back to gaping at the cost. "If it helps at all I'll pay for my part." The quiet teenager said. "No, I promised I'd pay this time so, whatever." He practically yelled. He paid and then they left their separate ways.

Shizuka returned to her apartment for a while, watching TV bored. Deciding that she go walk around the lake and then go grocery shopping because of her lack of food, she stood up turning of the TV. Jumping up she let down her hair in front of the bathroom mirror noticing that it was getting longer, but put it back up in a bun quickly. She rarely let her hair down at all other than to shower but that was about it. When she was younger she kept it down because her mother used to like to braid it and play with it but no it only reminded her that she would never have that again.

She walked leisurely out of her apartment figuring that taking her time would be a good idea considering she wasn't in a rush. She took gentle graceful steps on the cobblestone path that led through a small area of trees that flowed around the lake. There were trees of all sorts but the one that stood out the most was the single brilliant Sakura tree that stood tall in the middle of all the others. It's rose colored flowers just beginning to open and soon would fade with the coming wind.

Shizuka stopped for a silent moment taking in the beauty of the peaceful air around her. Bird chirped happily in the background whispering quiet words in her ears, the light breeze shifted the leave on the braches above her, and there she stood clad in her rose-grey kimono silent as the falcon circling in the pale blue skies above. With a look up to the predatory bird above the young girl's long bangs slipped of her left eye revealing the blank lavender of her blind eye. The sharpened amber gaze of the falcon above drew towards her and without a single sound the graceful yet deadly bird swopped down and landed gently on the Kurotori's out stretched arm.

She looked at the birds hardened amber eyes with the clash of her gentle teal and lavender eyes. The bird gave one simple squawk and Shizuka tilted her head to the side like a confused animal. She then turned to look ahead the path to see Sasuke standing with a blank look on his face. Shizuka smiled, and said a wind-chime voice. "You're as good as they say Uchiha. It's been a long time since anyone has managed to sneek up on me, blind side or not."

The shocked Uchiha merely repeated, "Blind?". Shizuka glanced at the falcon on her arm, ran a soft hand over the bird's head and pointed at the grass where an oblivious field mouse scurried around. The pristine peregrine sitting on her arm took one look at it, and turned back to Shizuka. It ducked its head down, like a small bow and jumped of her arm diving for the mouse before flapping its strong wings and flying of into the sky.

"Blind?" Sasuke whispered again, having not notice the devoid of life of the young girls left eye. Shifting her fallen bangs out of her eye, Shizuka looked toward him. The realization of the truth in her blank lavender eye hit Sasuke abruptly.

Shizuka was not surprised that no one had seemed to notice the blindness of her left eye; she hid it so well. She moved around like everyone else and no-one ever saw her eye because of her bangs. "Yes, Sasuke, I am blind in the left eye." She whispered, gazing away at the swaying cherry blossom tree on her right. "Hn." The stubborn Uchiha muttered refusing to act surprised by this, even if it was obvious to her that he was. "Is 'Hn' all you know how to say, Sasuke?" Shizuka giggled at his grunting language. "Hn." He grunted again. Giggling the childish teen continued to make fun of the unemotional boy before her. After finally realizing that her laughing at him wouldn't get her any reaction out of Sasuke the stubborn, she instead asked a question she'd been reluctant to ask. "Sasuke, why were you looking so sad down at the lake last night?"

At first the raven-haired boy didn't utter a word, but then quickly snapped out that it was none of her business. "Sasuke, I know you don't know me very well, in fact you don't really know me at all, but you can tell me. I understand." Shizuka whispered, knowing fully well the pain that the boy felt. "How would you know anything? You're like the rest of them! You don't know anything! How would you understand what it's like to have your clan slaughtered by your own brother?" Sasuke glared angrily. He wasn't actually angry with her, just with the world. He flinched when Shizuka came up to him. She grabbed his hand with hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze before gazing back up at his furious obsidian eyes and whispered the very words he'd never imagined he'd ever hear. "I understand because, like you Sasuke Uchiha, my clan was also slaughtered. That night I'd witnessed my brother slit my mother's throat, after making me watch him mercilessly kill the rest of us, and I was the only to survive."

Shizuka stepped back turning from a startled unbelieving Sasuke. She took exactly seven steps back toward her apartment before turning back to say with a voice, though shrouded with attitude, like wind-chimes, graceful and gentle even in the harsh winds of a storm. "_That_, Sasuke, is why I understand, unlike the rest who have no idea. But you Sasuke, do not mistake me as one of the oblivious, those who see only what they want to in life, those who have to fool themselves into thinking that there is nothing wrong with this world. Do not plague me as one of them." And with that she turned and disappeared behind a tree.

Sasuke shocked by the chance that her story could be true, leaned up against the cherry tree and stared skyward. In the branches above stood the falcon from before, the mouse still waiting to be eaten between its talons. Its startling amber gaze locked with Sasuke, giving him an ashamed look, as if to say that he should have never questioned the truth in Shizuka's words, before flying off once more into the pale blue sky.


	4. The Leaf Genin Training

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but Shizuka and the Kurotori clan are mine and so are Tatsuhiro and Ryoto the dragons.

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Chapter three: The Leaf Genin Training

The next night was riddled with confusion. Shizuka had seen the look the falcon had given Sasuke after she'd told him the truth. Even the birds of this area knew of her, they knew the truth. Or perhaps it was simply because the Kurotori had a reputation for never lying even when lying was the best thing to do and it trusted her words.

She was not surprised in the slightest that Sasuke didn't believe that he wasn't the only one around with a clan slaughter by a brother. Shizuka herself would have been surprised too had she not already known of the massacre of the Uchiha clan. Something she'd heard from, ironically, Itachi Uchiha himself.

The next morning Shizuka woke up groggy and tired, but bounced right up when she noticed that she'd be late if she didn't hurry. After having a quick shower and throwing on her familiar grey kimono, she grabbed a granola bar and ran out the door. She arrived right on time. Iruka and Shizune, Lady Tsunade's secretary, stood just outside gate to the ninja academy waiting for the last of the genin to make their way there. Naruto was late, but everyone else made it just on time or early. Iruka frowned at the hyperactive knucklehead blond, but just sighed and began to speak.

"Alright everyone, as I explained yesterday, you'll be teamed up with a partner and together you'll be sparring partners for two days, then you'll switch partners and so on. We'll be taking up training fields one throught 3 so each set of partners will have half of a training field to themselves. Your not aloud to interfere in the other fights so try and keep your distance. Shizune and I will be watching your fights to see how the new genin groups will work out. I will then report to your jounin leaders and Shizune will report to Lady Tsunade, who will make the final decision with their help as well as ours. Now let's head over to field #1 and I give you the names for the first set of partners." And with that Iruka lead us to the training fields.

"Ok the first groups are…" Iruka started. "Ino Yamanaka and Tenten…"

The two proud kunoichi looked at each other both smiling at the opportunity to test their skills. " Sasuke Uchiha and Neji Hyuga… Choji Akimichi and Sakura Haruno… Kiba Inuzuka and Rock Lee.." Iruka continued.

"I am happy to have a chance to fight such a worthy and youthful opponent!" Lee yelled. Kiba grinned and Akamaru barked from his post a top Kiba's head. Iruka cleared his throught before he continued again. "… Shino Aburame and Naruto Uzumaki, you'll be partners… and then -" Naruto instantly bounced up. "Hey, why do I have to be partners with the freaky bug guy!" Shino sighed and walked over to Naruto's side, whacking him over the head with the back of his hand. "At one point you would have had to have Shino as a partner anyways, Naruto. You're lucky Shino puts up a good fight, it will be a good chance for you to test you're skills." Shizune told the hyper blond. TonTon the pig leapt from her arms, waltzed over to Naruto and stomped on his foot.

Iruka merely sighed as Naruto held his foot in his hand and complained about the pig stepping on it. "Like I was saying, _before_ I got interrupted, the last group will be Hinata Hyuga and Shizuka Kurotori. Now the first two groups, Ino, Tenten, Sasuke and Neji, you'll stay here. Groups #3 and #4, Choji, Sakura, Kiba and Lee, you'll head for training ground #2. Groups #5 and #6, Shino, Naruto, Hinata and Shizuka, you'll head for training ground #3. Remember no jutsu that are going to seriously hurt anybody and do your best because we'll be watching and evaluating. Ok everyone, get going!" Iruka finished.

Training ground three was plenty big enough for two fights but you could still se what was going on with the others. Hinata and Shizuka bid the boys goodbye as they left for the other end of the large area. Hinata was obviously very shy and had a major crush on Naruto because when he came close to her to see if she was ok, claiming that she was red, she freaked out. Truth be told she was just blushing and Naruto was just ignorant. Shino complained and the boys left.

Shizune came out of the bushes behind the girls and did a count down for them to start saying she was gonna watch a bit before going to make sure Naruto wasn't dead yet. "3… 2… 1… Go!" And then she disappeared.

The beginning of the fight wasn't much; Shizuka threw some kunai quickly finding it useless as the shy Hyuga merely brushed them off with her spinning. Suddenly out of no where Hinata popped up behind her and tried to kick her legs. Shizuka jumped and avoided the hit gracefully but barely. '_She's fast, but not as fast._' Shizuka though as she dogged Hinata's gentle fist responding with a little Taijutsu of her own. She managed to get one punch on Hinata's stomach but quickly got the graze of a sharp kunai along her arm.

Shizuka jumped back instantly; her jutsu were mostly mid range anyway, though she too could use gentle fist. "Shadow clone jutsu!" She said, making two hand seals. Five clones infused with special chakra instantly sprang up, which was enough to distract Hinata so that she could escape. '_Gahh, why did her first opponent have to be a Hyuga? I'd hopped to have the chance to hide in peace_, _but with Hinata's Byakugan she'll spot me in a few seconds._' Shizuka thought, '_The blind spot! I'll have to move quickly, but I can hide there for enough time to think of a strategy._'

Shizuka prayed that her clones were enough to distract Hinata while she ran to the Byakugan's blind spot. Once there she watched as Hinata quickly figured out that if she touched the clones she be fried by Shizuka's electric chakra. She watched as she threw kunai at them before jumping away to avoid the blast of the exploding clones.

"Byakugan!" She heard the girl yell, searching for the real Shizuka now that the fake ones were gone. As Hinata moved, so did Shizuka working to keep within the Byakugan's blind spot, lucky that she knew where to find it.

With a single jump Shizuka lauched herself out of the trees and made a few hand signs as she got closer to Hinata. She landed at what was good for a mid range jutsu and said quietly, " Lightning Release: Lightning beast jutsu." A white-blue wolf-like form leaped from Shizuka's hand, a beast made purely of lightning chakra.

Hinata unprepared for an attack from her blind spot, spud around as Shizuka threw four shuriken tied to string. With a tilt of her hand she twisted the shuriken so that they enveloped Hinata and with her other she controlled the lightning beast to attack. For a moment Hinata looked truly terrified and closed her eyes knowing that she couldn't escape. One moments she saw the hound jumping towards her and she braced for the hit.

Hinata opened her pearl like eyes to see the beasts face only two inches from her own, Shizuka holding back the chakra rope that attached her to the beast. They watched as it retracted back into Shizuka's arm and disappeared. Shizuka grinned, and came up to help untie Hinata. "Do you mind if we just relax for a little? I'm still tired from the journey here, from the village I was in before." She asked Hinata as she freed her from the thin wire ropes. Hinata gave a shy nod, obviously wanting to ask about how Shizuka knew of the Byakugan's blind spot or whether it was just by accident but not having the guts to. "Hey! I bet that everyone is still fighting, wanna go watch the end of Naruto and Shino's fight?" Shizuka asked, grinning at the younger Hyuga heiress. Hinata blushed and nodded, hoping to see that her teammate hadn't completely beaten Naruto to a pulp. "Alright lets go then!" She laughed, dragging the poor shy girl along.

- - - - - - (AN: little bit of a time skip here, Oh and Tenten's POV)

"Alright, gather round everybody!" Iruka yelled from the front of the group. "Now the 8th set of partners will be… Ino Yamanaka and Sasuke Uchiha… Hinata Hyuga and Naruto Uzumaki… Tenten and Shizuka Kurotori…"

Tenten grinned and Shizuka looked over at her next opponent. Whispers began though out the genin as Iruka-sensei finished with the names. "I heard that Shizuka's the only one who's gone completely undefeated so far…" Kiba whispered to Naruto. "I wonder how Tenten will do." Naruto mumbled, obviously not happy that he had been amongst the ones who had been beaten by Shizuka's little tricks. "Heh, if Tenten doesn't beat her it looks like I'll be the one to have to break that perfect score.

Tenten was grinning, she had heard rumor from Lee of how Shizuka fought. Mid-range, lightning and fire types mostly but perfectly capable as a close range Taijutsu type, defensive over strait forward attack and can use shadow clones that explode. Lee told her everything, but the others who had been beaten merely wept at being beaten by a newbie.

"Ok, head out!" Iruka told them. Tenten left with Shizuka at her side. This was going to be an interesting fight. As soon as they got to the battle field they shook hands, both grinning. "3… 2… 1…" They said at the same time, jumping away to a good distance to fight a mid-long range fight, a specialty of the two kunoichi.

Tenten threw a few kunai; she was waiting to see if what Lee had said about the girls fighting skills were true, since Lee often exaggerated everything. Shizuka responded with a few kunai and shuriken of her own seeming to know not to waste her energy before the weapon's mistress started the fight for real. Tenten could wait though for Shizuka to bring the real fight, she wanted to analyze her enemy first.

Shizuka obviously not wanting to wait with there useless knife throwing, of which the other either dogged or blocked, was the first to pull out the big guns. As she made hand signs, Tenten took the chance to pull out her first weapons scroll. "Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" Shizuka yelled pulling her hand to her lips and blowing a giant fireball strait towards Tenten.

She dogged quickly and let loose an array of kunai and shuriken. Shizuka stooped blowing and jumped out of the way gracefully, making more hand signs while she was still in the air. "Lightning release: Lightning beast!" She said, sending a huge wolf-like figure made of lightning towards Tenten, while she went to grab something from behind her. Shuriken were suddenly lauched towards Tenten. She dogged noticing how Shizuka was trying to trap her with wire strings attached to the shuriken that she used while the beast was a distraction.

Tenten dogged all of the shuriken but the beast continued to chase her back. She jumped back as the lightning beast approached intill the beast stopped coming. She turned to see it growling loudly and attempting to advance only to be held back. She grinned that was as far as this jutsu went from Shizuka's hand, the rope stretched thin between them.

Shizuka scowled and pulled back the jutsu, instead opting for another fireball. Tenten advanced forward trying to back Shizuka into a rocky area so that she would be caught between the crevices and unable to flee without at least a few scratches. The array of weapon was easily avoided in till Shizuka had been back into the rocks and was unable to move fast enough.

Tenten let loose about two dozen kunai and shuriken at once at the cornered Kurotori kunoichi. She saw a panicked look on the girls face before she saw something she'd never expect to see from the supposedly half-blind girl. A swirling chakra shield as Shizuka started to spin around; a move from the Hyuga's Byakugan.

- - - - - - (An: Shizuka's Pov)

Shizuka panicked as Tenten's weapons were flung towards her. She was fast and normally had great reflexes but that was only when she could use her Byaringan eye. Panicking she went with her instincts and spun around in a tight circle, allowing her Byaringan to come to life. Her blood red Sharingan spun and the veins on the side of her left eye pulsed from the tightening of her Byakugan. She hadn't had any problems with her earlier opponents; she already fought with Hinata, Choji, Lee, Sakura, Shino, Naruto and Ino without a problem but now… Without a second though she'd used a move that she'd promised she wouldn't, and then there stood Tenten; her mouth gaping open in shock.

"Um… heh… um…" Shizuka didn't know what to say but it would appear that the fight was over do to the shocked look on Tenten's face. Surely now she'd tell everyone and Shizuka's little secret would be out. Suddenly out of the bushes popped Shizune. Tenten didn't even react, she just kept staring blankly at Shizuka's red eye. Shizuka looked down but didn't say a word she didn't know how to explain.

"Tenten, would you mind not saying anything about what you saw to the others?" Shizune asked the shocked girl. "But… how? What?" Tenten mumbled. "It's not your average Byakugan, I know." Shizuka told her taking a few steps forward. "It's also not your average Sharingan." She added.

"Then what is it?" Tenten asked. "It's both." Shizuka answered without explaining anything. Shizune sighed, these two obviously weren't going to get anywhere. She needed to explain for them. "Look, Tenten, Shizuka's grandmother was of the Hyuga clan, and her grandfather of the Uchiha clan, so she posses both the Byakugan and the Sharingan. I know it seems a bit weird but that's just the way things are. She was going to reveal the truth after this exercise was complete. The reason she's here is because her old ninja village didn't want the blood of another village within it's ranks; but Lady Tsunade took her in despite her having the blood of one of the clans in Kumogakure, right Shizuka?" Shizune explained.

"More or less, yes that's right. Your missing things but of course those are the ones that are for the most part confidential between Lady Tsunade and myself." She replied.

"Byakugan and Sharingan… that's quite the mix." Tenten grinned. "Well… If your still up to it I am technically your sparing partner for a while. It will give you a bit more practice for next time you end up being Neji's sparing partner, since you are on the same team as him." Shizuka grinned. "Of course I'm up to it, but I'm not aloud to say anything to anyone am I?" Tenten asked. "No."

"Fine with me shall we have another count down?" Tenten said, grinning. "Shizune, you should inform Lady Tsunade that Tenten knows of my Byaringan but that's all and that it is fine, before she finds out that you didn't tell her about it right away." Shizuka told her, not even turning towards Shizune before she shook hands with Tenten again and began the fight anew. Shizune sighed and jumped out of the way, leaving to inform Lady Tsunade.

The two kunoichi didn't even notice as the sun began to set on the horizon. The fight continued without having a winner, Shizuka had resorted to using her Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four Palms once already, only to miss, and Tenten was nearly out of weapons, but the fight continued.

"Lightning Release: Shadow clones!" Shizuka yelled. Five shadow clones and the real Shizuka all charged towards Tenten. Six masters of gentle fist all at once. Tenten killed of all five clones with a wooden rod. It couldn't conduct electricity so it held no affect on her as long as she avoided the lightning blasts when the clones exploded. The real Shizuka used all the gentle fist she could in her tired body but was blocked every time but once, when she'd landed a single hit on Tenten's stomach.

She jumped back, panting. Tenten let loose more weapons from one of her scrolls and Shizuka spun to deflect them. They both heard a gasp from the edge of the forest.

Instantly, Shizuka looked up, completely forgetting to shut of her Byaringan, revealing her blood red left eye to whoever it was at the edge of the forest.

Neji gasped as he saw Shizuka use one of the moves that could only be used by a wielder of the Byakugan. "Um… Hey, Neji." Shizuka mumbled at the shocked Hyuga boy. "Tenten, Gai-sensei wanted me to come and get you, Lee's already with him. There over at the other training field. Would one of you explained what the hell that was?" Neji spoke with no emotion in his voice he was simply surprised to the point that it just didn't make any sense what he'd seen. "My Kekkai Genkai? Please just don't say anything, yet." She asked.

"Does Hiashi-sama know that you have the Byakugan? And that doesn't look like a Byakugan but…" Neji asked firmly. "No, and I have no intentions on telling him yet. The only people who know of my Kekkai Genkai are you, Tenten, Shizune and Lady Tsunade. And it doesn't look like a normal Byakugan because I posses not only the Byakugan but the Sharingan as well. Anyway Tenten you should get going, we'll finish this tomorrow. We both need rest anyway, I hadn't realize that it was this late." Shizuka spoke quietly before disappearing with a flicker of Genjutsu. She trusted Tenten to explain the rest to Neji on the way back to Lee and Gai-sensei.


	5. Tenshi Uchiha

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but Shizuka and the Kurotori clan are mine and so are Tatsuhiro and Ryoto the dragons.

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Chapter 4: Tenshi Uchiha

Shizuka collapsed on the hard ground of training field #3, panting. She could feel her internal organs complaining at the fierce pain of being hit by Hyuga Neji's Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four Palms. Neji had passed out, collapsing right before Shizuka did, groaning in pain. They'd both used the same attack at the same instant and paid the price for it too.

Shizune and Iruka instantly jumped from there hiding places in the bushes and ran to the fallen genin. "Iruka, go fetch some medical ninja quickly!" Shizuka heard the woman yell. She groaned as the med-nins lifted her on to the gurney. She was badly hurt, but she was more worried about Neji. Did he receive as much damage as she did? She would probably be fine by tomorrow evening, because of being a Jinchuriki, but would Neji? Without a single other thought, the young Kurotori passed out from the aching pain.

Shizuka woke up the next morning confused, what had happened? She groaned her whole body hurt but she couldn't sense any severe damage; a little rest and she'd be fine. '_Ugh… What happened? Oh, God! Neji! I wonder if he's ok…_' She remembered. Her last day of training with the Hyuga prodigy had gone wrong. On instantaneous whim, they'd both used Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four Palms on each other at the same time, and were unable to block any of the attacks do to there too fast momentum. She remembered the medical ninja carrying her and Neji to the hospital before she'd passed out from the pain.

She groaned as she sat up. Shizune and Lady Tsunade barged in at the same time into her hospital room. "Shizuka, you shouldn't be sitting up!" Shizune yelled but the young girl ignored her. "Care to explain exactly how this happened?" Tsunade demanded. "Eight Trigrams… It was an accident. Is Neji ok?" She asked quietly.

"He will be, but he'll be in here for the next few days. I have the feeling that Sakura is happy that she doesn't have to fight him though." Tsunade laughed. "Hn… That's right Sakura was Neji's next partner. Good thing, she wouldn't stand a chance against his gentle fist." Shizuka mumbled. "Anyway, you're staying here for a while too, Shizuka. Your injuries were more substantial then Neji's but your recovery rate is amazing. The only other person who heals like this is Naruto…" Tsunade continued. "What can I say? It's the power of the Jinchuriki." Shizuka admitted. "Yes, the twin dragon demon's chakra is what heals you so quickly, as well as Naruto's nine-tails chakra, but we'd best not be seen talking about something like that. Only the people in this room know of the truth, and it should stay that way at least for a while." Tsunade said. "I'll leave you to rest, Shizuka. We'll come check on you later and see if you can leave or not, but for now rest." She finished, leaving the Kurotori kunoichi to her own devices.

Shizuka sighed, her whole body ached. She laid back down hoping that a few more hours of sleep would complete her healing. Her last thought was, '_Does this mean that my perfect record of never losing a battle so far has gone down the drain?_'

When Shizuka woke up she was greeted by a very loud Naruto. She groaned pulling a pillow over her ears. "Naruto, Quiet down!" She yelled. "Shizuka-san, are you alright!" He yelled back, completely ignorant.

WHACK!

"Didn't you hear her? You probably woke her up with all your screaming idiot!" Tsunade yelled, hitting Naruto over the head with the heavy medical book she'd been carrying. Shizuka looked out from under her pillow and laughed at the pained look on Naruto's face. She giggled, "Why do I feel like Naruto's the one who should be in this hospital bed?" Tsunade laughed, and Naruto complained about being hit, again.

"Anyway, I check your wounds while you were asleep. I didn't want to wake you. You can leave now if you'd prefer that but If you do you have to promise that your going to go home and rest, your still not completely healed. No running around for you in till at least tomorrow for training. Come by in the morning and I'll check to see if your fit enough for training." Tsunade told her. "Alright, guess I'll head home. My bed's much more comfortable, so I might as well." Shizuka mumbled. "I figured you'd say that, but you have to rest, alright?" Tsunade said. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." Shizuka grumbled, ready to get the heck out of that uncomfortable hospital bed, and into her real bed.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow but didn't comment she knew there was nothing she could do about the young Kurotori's attitude. She sighed. Within the next fifteen minutes, a tired Shizuka had made her way back to her apartment only to find that she couldn't sleep. Sighing she got, up and curled on the couch to watch TV for a while, but found herself thinking of other things. She couldn't concentrate. She was thinking about her next and last training partner, Sasuke Uchiha. The whole time she'd been waiting for her chance to fight him, having heard of his skills. After the first few fights, she'd heard that the ones to worry about the most were Hyuga Neji and Uchiha Sasuke, and that right under them were Tenten, Rock Lee and surprisingly Naruto. Lee had caused her only a bit of problem, Naruto no problem at all, and then with Tenten she'd had to resort to using her Byaringan for the first time in weeks. It was just her luck to have gotten good opponents at the end; first, Tenten, then Kiba Inuzuka, then Neji. Now Sasuke Uchiha, the last of the Uchiha clan… more or less.

Bored, she stood and wandered down to the lake again. The single cherry tree stood no longer in bloom, but it didn't seem to take away from the beauty of the place. It had its own natural beauty without the help of the little rose-colored blossoms. In the tree across from it flocked a family of sparrows, who chirped happily at her coming. Birds always seemed to know when one of the Kurotori clan was around; they held the name "Blackbird" for a reason.

She slid silently along the path enjoying the sereneness of the nature around her. She blocked out the chirping of the hundreds of chirping birds as they whispered secrets between them, fully aware that those of the Kurotori could understand every word. She ignored them though, as she usually did in less they spoke directly to her. The falcon from the first day swooped the sky, and landed again on her arm when she reached the end of the small dock on the calm lake.

It looked directly into her eyes and warned her again of the eyes on her back. "I know." She told it, before whispering something in its ear. The peregrine falcon nodded, letting out a gentle laugh like squawk, and jumped from her arm landing gently on top of Sasuke's head. Shizuka laughed at the look she got from the supposedly emotionless Uchiha. He glared and tired to swat the bird of his head. It ruffled it's feather and plucked at his hand telling him to leave it be.

Shizuka stretched out her arm once again, and the predatory bird landed gracefully upon it. She giggled as it complained about Sasuke trying to hit it. Sasuke just glared. "I told you not to sneak up on me." Shizuka said with a grin plastered on her face. "Tsk, whatever. I heard Neji was the one who finally beat you, but that you'd both ended up in the hospital. Why are you here then?" He said indifferently.

"Ha! As if! Neji fell first; if I didn't win, it was at least a tie." She told him proudly. "Whatever, if a idiot like Naruto can beat him I guess I'm not really surprised." Sasuke mumbled. "Naruto… beat Neji! Why is it I find that so hard to believe? I walked out of my fight with Naruto without a scratch, yet Neji was able to knock me out! Naruto's got a lot of power backed up in that Rasengan of his but his attacks are just too easy to see coming even without my Bya-" Shizuka stopped herself from continuing. Sasuke didn't yet know of her Kekkai Genkai, only Neji and Tenten knew.

"Your what?" Sasuke asked in a half demanding, half confused tone. "Nothing!" She answered a little too quickly. Sasuke stared at her with his coal black gaze, questioning. "_He suspects you. You nearly said Byaringan, but he probably though you were going to say Byakugan. The white eye's a bit of a dead give away._" The falcon on her shoulder said in a language only she'd understand. She nodded, not wanting to answer the bird in front of Sasuke. "Hn… whatever…" He mumbled before turning to leave.

"Hey… Sasuke-kun… I'm sorry about not being able to get to training today… but I be all healed by tomorrow, so we'll still have our chance to fight. That's assuming that your up to the challenge?" Shizuka asked, changing the subject away from anything to do with her Byaringan eye. "Hn… Of course, I'm curious to see how you managed to defeat everyone else. Then again I'm nothing like them, you'll have to try harder to beat me." Sasuke grinned not even bothering to look back towards her. "Don't get cocky, Uchiha…" She whispered her voice being carried by the wind. He turned back, only to see that the girl had vanished.

- - - - - - - (Sasuke's POV)

Sasuke walked along his way back to the old Uchiha manor, contemplating the kunoichi's words. "_Don't get cocky, Uchiha…_" She'd said, before vanishing into thin air. Even after activating his Sharingan, he couldn't sense her chakra anywhere, she'd simply vanished. He took a look towards her apartment only to find her standing on the balcony, already back home.

He turned towards his home letting his eyes fade back to there usual black color. "_That girl… there's something weird about her. I swear that I've heard the name Kurotori before too… But where? Oh… God… she was telling the truth…_" He thought pulling himself back into his memories.

- - - (flashback time!) - -

_A 10 year old Sasuke walked around the village bored, about 3 months before the slaughter of the Uchiha clan. He said hello to his aunt and uncle who smiled at him and told him that he'd better hurry home; it was getting dark. He smiled cutely and told them that he would and with that he ran off. He was running towards his house when suddenly something caught his eyes._

_Blowing in the breeze between two buildings was a newspaper. Sasuke looked at the front cover, wondering why someone would have left it there. On the cover it showed a brutal picture of buildings on fire and homes destroyed. "Massacre of the Kurotori clan." It read. Little Sasuke dropped the paper, scared of what he'd seen. How could someone slaughter an entire clan? At the time he could barely believe that something like that could happen. _

_He hurried home even faster then leaving the paper in the street behind him. "So someone slaughtered the entire Kurotori clan?" Uchiha Fugaku asked from inside the main door. Sasuke waited outside listening silently. "I wonder if Tenshi made it out alright…" Sasuke's mother said. "Tenshi Uchiha?" Itachi asked. "Yes. Poor girl… She got married to the younger brother of the head of the clan, but he was killed two years ago… I hope she got out safely and her daughter." Sasuke's mother told her eldest son. "Tenshi… wasn't she that half Uchiha rogue ninja, who left and move in to Kumogakure?" Sasuke's father mumbled._

"_I wish you wouldn't call her half-Uchiha like she's some sort of freak. She was a nice woman and she only left the village because of the pressure everyone was putting on her to be the best… After all she did posses both the Sharingan and the B-" _

_Sasuke tripped a bit, cutting of his mothers word, but not making it look like he'd been listening. "Father, Mother, Itachi, I'm home." He called trying to sound normal. "Oh good, come on in Sasuke, I just finished cooking dinner." His mother told him, smiling as she told him to go wash his hands for dinner like nothing had ever happened._

_- - -_ (End Flashback)_ - - - _

He remembered now… The Kurotori clan had been slaughtered along with Tenshi Uchiha… who ever she was. Apparently she'd been a friend of his mothers before he was born but Itachi had remembered her vaguely. He never heard anything more about them. He knew now why he didn't remember that; it had only been 3 months before the slaughter of the Uchiha and had pales in comparison to seeing a slaughter like that himself, completely forgotten.

So Shizuka was one of the surviving Kurotori then… Sasuke half wondered weather she'd known Tenchi Uchiha, she probably had if she had been married to the head of the clans younger brother. That had had to be pretty scandalous, the head's younger brother marrying a rogue member of the Uchiha clan.

Though curious Sasuke knew he wouldn't say anything to Shizuka, not yet. That night he had the same dream he'd had every night for a year after the death of his clan. He hadn't had that dream in ages though, not since shortly after he became a Genin. The memories had brought up the pain again. '_Damn that Shizuka, she reminds me of everything I tried to forget. I tried to keep the hatred and anger and rid myself of the pain, but she brings it back out. Why?_' He yelled within his thoughts.

- - - - - - - (Shizuka's Pov)

Anger… She could sense it from here. Someone was angry. It was said that birds could sense emotion, or the intent behind people words. Her sense were weaker then any true bird's but she too could sense it sometimes. "_It's the Uchiha boy again._" A lone croaking raven told her from the post he'd taken up on her balcony's railing. She sighed. '_Sasuke, what's got you so angry? Are you thinking of your brother?_' She wanted ask.

"Can you…?" She asked the raven. "_Of course, my lady_." It answered. With a look into her Sharingan eye she wandered inside the bird's head as he flew off. She saw what he saw as he perched on a tree outside of the home of Sasuke Uchiha. Sasuke had wondered outside taking his anger out on a tree beside there's by punching it which only resulted in bloody knuckles. His Sharingan blazed and spun in his anger. He threw one last punch, putting all his force into one last hit. The tree shuddered but stayed standing.

Shizuka sighed, he was hurting himself. Sasuke sat down on the front steps and clutched at his heart with his hands. Out of nowhere he launched a kunai in her direction. The raven cawed loudly and flapped its wings to fly but not before giving Sasuke a glare. Sasuke gasped, he'd seen her Sharingan in the bird eyes. The connection broke and Shizuka waited for the raven to return.

"_I'm sorry my lady. He caught me._" He told her. "It's alright, I shouldn't have been spying on him. I was just worried. He'll probably think that it was Itachi though… He saw my Sharingan hidden in your eye. When the time comes I'll tell him that it was me." Shizuka mumbled. "Thank you." She told it before the obsidian raven flew of into the night.

For the remaining hours of the night, Shizuka's sleep was plagued with horrifying dreams of fear and death. It came to her in flashes not enough for her to place which memories went where and which were just the fear imagining things. She clutched her rabbit shaped stuffed animal tightly to her chest and wept into its floppy ears. Her heart beat fast as she tried to calm herself before her emotions got the best of her and she accidentally activated the Kekkai Genkai of the Kurotori. A Kekkai Genkai that could be activated by the owner losing hold of their emotions.

Losing it, she made sure that the blinds were closed and the door locked so that no one would see her. She curled up in her bed, giant feathered wings as black at midnight wrapping around her body.


	6. A Secret Revealed

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but Shizuka is my character.

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Chapter 5: A Secret Revealed

Shizuka woke up early, stiff from sleeping curled up in ball. She got up slowly, mumbling to herself about how little sleep she'd gotten because of the nightmares. Sighing she pulled herself up and wandered into the bathroom. After a nice shower, she pulled on her favorite grey kimono and sat down at the table with a bowl of cereal. Remembering that she had to go stop by the hospital before training, she ate fast and ran out the door.

"Alright, looks like you're fine. But be careful, Uchiha is your next partner for this so it's not like this is going to be easy. Do try not to land both of you in the hospital again." Tsunade told the young Kurotori. Shizuka grinned. "I'll try." She ran off to training and got there just on time. Iruka stood in front. "Ok once everyone is done there fight meet back here on training field #1. Now get going." He told the Genin. For the first time Shizuka stayed on training grounds #1 for her fight with Sasuke Uchiha.

"Sasuke-kun, can I just tell you something now, and not have to worry about it in the middle of our fight?" Shizuka asked Sasuke as soon as they were alone. "Hn?" He mumbled. "You remember last night when I almost said something, but stopped myself?" She started. "Hn." She took that as a yes. "Well, I lied when I said it was nothing. I was actually about to say something about this…" she showed him her Byaringan eye, shifting her long bangs out of her face.

Sasuke kept his cool, and for a few moments there was silence. "Sharingan and Byakugan? You're the daughter of Tenshi Uchiha aren't you?" He asked, completely unemotional. Shizuka gasped but nodded. "How? U knew?"

"I came to the conclusion that it was a possibility… I'm remembered last night. Tenshi Uchiha was a friend of my mothers before I was born, I'd only ever heard rumors though. No one really had any reason to speak about rogue ninja like that, so I heard very little. That she possessed the Sharingan and Byakugan, and that she had a daughter in the Kurotori clan." Sasuke told her, giving her the whole explanation. "She's your mother, then?"

"Yes, Tenshi was my mother. I'm the daughter of the head of the Kurotori clan's younger brother and Tenshi Uchiha, wielder of the Byaringan eyes." Shizuka admitted. "And the last of the Kurotori clan." She finished.

Sasuke nodded, and without a word pulled out a kunai. "Alright then, I'm pretty sure we're supposed to be sparing. I'm curious of your skills, Shizuka of the Kurotori." Sasuke grinned. "3… 2… 1…" Shizuka mumbled and launched her first kunai at his head. 7 hand signs, horse- tiger-ram-monkey-boar-horse-tiger, Shizuka recognized it immediately; the fireball jutsu. Pulling of the same 7 seals with the exact same timing, the two each blew a fireball at each other. The two colliding fireballs cancelled each other out with ease. Shizuka laughed. "You're going to have to do better than that. You're not the only Uchiha around anymore Sasuke!"

With a grin, Shizuka immediately laughed a strait assault of gentle fist. Sasuke jumped away before he got too badly hurt. Her skills in Taijutsu were better then his. He made a few more hand signs, to which she did the same. "Fire style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" They yelled at the same time. Sasuke grumbled as their attacks cancelled each other out yet again. Shizuka giggled, giving him a smile, while she waited for Sasuke's attack. It was his turn to attack first, this time. Shizuka was waiting to see what he'd do.

They continued there little dance of him pulling random fire jutsu and Shizuka simply copying is every move. She'd told him that he'd have to do better then that didn't she? She was flat out laughing; this was almost as pathetic as her fight with Naruto, to which she'd walked out of without a scratch. Growling, Sasuke finally did something entertaining. Throwing his arm down a white-ish like began to form in his hand. "Chidori!" He called, rushing forward. Shizuka dogged, but barely, feeling a scrape and the numbness of lightning release jutsu. She groaned, she hadn't been ready for that, even with her Byaringan eye backing her up she'd still been hit by the edge of Sasuke's attack.

She stood panting. Sasuke turned to look back towards her, half to see if she was ok and half to gloat that he'd finally hit her. Suddenly, she disappeared in a pouf of smoke. Using his Sharingan he sensed her chakra behind him.

"Lightning release: Shadow clones!" She said, and suddenly he was facing 6 Shizuka's not one. He destroyed them all when they came at him with there gentle fist. Shizuka saw it from her hiding place as he tried to find the real her. She panted. The cut from his Chidori was worse then she'd thought. Her right side where she'd been hit was bleeding, though not badly. It was mostly numbness. She could feel the dragon's chakra already trying to heal her.

When Sasuke's back was turned to her she came out pulling the same trick as she'd used on both Hinata and Tenten. She wasn't really surprised when he evaded the shuriken. She lightning beast managed to land a loose bite on his arm before he managed to get far enough away that the jutsu could no longer follow him. Shizuka was to weak to move to chase him. She stood holding her side as she pulled back the jutsu. "So I did hit you with Chidori, not just a clone." Sasuke mumbled just loud enough for her to hear. "Barely, but yes. I guess that bite make us even then." Shizuka grinned, pointing toward the large bite mark on his arm. "Well, I think we should change that don't you. Just one more hit and I'll win. Hn, with the shock from the Chidori you should be frozen in your spot. I'd bet that you can't even move right now. How bout' you just call it a quits? I'm gonna win anyway." Sasuke said, confidently. "Are you now?" Shizuka said. She staled enough, she could move again now at least, weakly but she could move. She made some hand seals quickly. '_Genjutsu time._' She thought. "Lightning Release: Flash of the Lightning Pillar!"

An illusionary flash of light appeared behind her, half-blinding Sasuke long enough for her to switch with a Shadow clone and appear behind Sasuke's back. By the time the Genjutsu disappeared, Shizuka was behind his back with a kunai to his throat. "Are you sure about that, Uchiha?" She whispered in his ear. "Quite." He said, pushing a kunai closer to her stomach.

They both moved back cautiously at the same time, pulling back the kunai. They stared at each other, Sharingan to Byaringan. Sasuke jumped back and ran his knife into her shadow clone. He jumped out of the way again to avoid the blast of the lightning clone. Shizuka noticed how one arm was hanging down like he had no control of it. His left arm was paralyzed from the lightning beast's mark. He couldn't use any jutsu now. Shizuka grinned. '_What now Sasuke?_' She thought.

He threw a few kunai and shuriken but Shizuka blocked them all with her spinning. It was a feeble attempt but the fact that Sasuke wasn't giving up yet made Shizuka smile. He couldn't use any jutsu and could probably barely move, but he was still trying. He refused to be beat by some newbie.

Figuring that using anymore Jutsu would only slow her healing she began an assault of gentle fist again, to which Sasuke was losing. "Shizuka." Someone called from the edge of the field. Shizuka looked up, she recognized that voice. He stood smiling at the edge of the field with the Hokage, Shizune and Iruka at his side. Distracted Sasuke managed to land a punch on Shizuka's stomach which she ignored, and within a couple seconds she was at her brother's side.

"Onii-san, you came back early!" The exited girl hugged her brother, ignoring the glare that she was getting from Sasuke because they again didn't get to finish their fight. "Come on we've got time to talk later, I want to see who'd win this fight. You or the Uchiha boy." Tatsuhiro told her. "Just be careful it looks like he hit you quite hard earlier!" He yelled after her as she ran back towards the fight.

Sasuke grumbled and forced himself to drag up his injured arm, glad that he could move it at all. His hand signs were slow but he managed to form another Chidori before Shizuka could intercept him. "Chidori!" He said once more charging forward. Shizuka avoided him this time; just able to jump out of the way as he came up. Naruto and a few other Genin came up, walking to stand beside Lady Tsunade and the others. They watched as the two fighters stared at each other as the light from Sasuke's Chidori faded.

Shizuka dropped into the stance for Eight Trigrams, only to hear Tsunade's voice. "Shizuka…" She warned. "Ugh… fine." Shizuka grumbled standing back up normally. "Psh, don't worry about me. I wouldn't want you holding back, Kurotori." Sasuke said confidently. "That jutsu's the reason Neji's in the hospital, you want to end up like him, Uchiha?" Shizuka told him. "Hn, as if you could hit me with one of those Byakugan moves." He mumbled. Shizuka grinned, "I told you not to get cocky, but don't worry I'll cure you of that attitude."

Shizuka bent back into stance and started the jutsu before Lady Tsunade could object. "Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four Palms." Shizuka called, attacking Sasuke head on with an array of gentle fist art. She heard the gasps as the rest of the Genin's showed there faces. She laughed, landing the first four hits on Sasuke before he managed to jump out of the way. She followed and jumped towards him for the last of the hits. Suddenly, her brother was at her side holding her wrist up, giving her a look of disapproval. "Calm down, Shizuka. It's obvious who would have won this fight, stop before you put him in the hospital." He said firmly.

Shizuka looked down, ashamed. She hated people who thought that they were just so much better than everyone else. People who judged others before they even knew them. Shizuka may be small and young, but she was a better fighter then many ninja of even higher rank. She was a rogue ninja, and they had to fight to survive; being strong wasn't an option for her. "Sorry, Onii-san… It's just… You know..." She whispered. He smiled and messed up her hair before walking back over to Tsunade and the others.

Sasuke wobbled over there panting, and Shizuka followed silently, her wound was already mostly healed. "Shizuka-san… can use Neji's jutsu?" Naruto blurted, oblivious to the color change in her eye. Shizuka looked up at her brother. He nodded. "I'll explain you go get that wound checked out." He said. "Psh, don't worry. It's already almost healed anyway." Shizuka mumbled, sitting down on a tree stump. Her brother explained to the rest of the Genin's the truth. That she was the daughter of a wielder of both the Byakugan and the Sharingan.

"She also had one other Kekkai Genkai, but weather she tells you about that or not is up to her. Now I believe, Lady Tsunade wanted to tell you about your new groups?" Tatsuhiro finished. The Genin's began to whisper about the possibility that Shizuka had three Kekkai Genkai and what it could be.

"Ok, come on stop rambling. Shizune, where's that list?" Tsunade yelled from the front of the group. Shizune handed her a scroll with a scared expression on her face. "Ok once I call out your groups spilt up into them then I'll have Shizune explain more. Alright, Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga and Shino Aburame, you'll be staying in the same group as before with Kurenai. Chouji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, you'll be getting a little switch since Shikamaru is now a Chunin, Sakura Haruno you'll be moved into this group with Asuma. Lee, Tenten, your group is staying the same, though Neji's going to be in the hospital for a few more days. Finally, Naruto Uzumaki, you'll be with Sasuke Uchiha and Shizuka Kurotori." Tsunade finished.

"Why did I have to get kicked out of Sasuke's group?" Shizuka heard Sakura complain quiet enough that Tsunade wouldn't hear her. She rolled her eyes, Sakura was such the fan girl, it's not like she wouldn't see Sasuke around. "Shizune, you can handle the rest if anything's needed. If anyone's hurt deal with that too. I'm going back." Tsunade mumbled, leaving. "Shizuka, I need to go talk with Tsunade right now; I'll meet you back at your place alright? See you later, little sis." Tatsuhiro told her smiling, as he turned to follow the fifth Hokage to her office. Shizuka nodded.

"As soon as your jounin leader's get here you can leave with them, I pretty sure they've all got something planned for later. In till then just stick around here if anyone's hurt worse then a couple scratches then come over here, I'll fix you up." Shizune instructed them. She walked up to Shizuka. "Go help Sasuke, I know I look bad but trust me he's worse, and you know how I heal." Shizuka told the her, shutting off her Byaringan. Shizune nodded and walked up to Sasuke instead. He didn't complain but he didn't even bother to look in Shizune direction. Just choosing to ignore the medic.

The other teams leaders came around within the next twenty minutes but the new team seven's leader was nowhere to be found. "Gah! He's always so late!" Naruto complained. "Shut up, Dobe." Sasuke told the hyperactive knucklehead. Shizuka sighed, this was going to be an interesting team. Konoha's number one knucklehead ninja and the Uchiha heartthrob who's full of himself and then her, who often didn't act her age but was truthfully very mature when she needed to be. Then there teacher, who apparently was always late. Shizune left them there after half an hour passed saying something about Lady Tsunade needing her help for something.

Shizuka laid down on her back on the soft grass, figuring that her new sensei wouldn't get there anytime soon anyways, and closed her eyes. She felt the wind as someone flopped down beside her. She opened half an eye to see Naruto sitting a couple meters away. Closing her eyes once more she tuned out Naruto's complaining. "Hm… Lady Shizuka, what a surprise." Shizuka heard a voice above her say. She opened her right eye half way, sitting up. With a bit of a jolt she opened her eyes all the way. "Well if it isn't Kakashi Hatake, the copy ninja. Long time no see…" Shizuka grinned, laying back down.

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait! _Lady_ Shizuka?" Naruto yelled. "You know each other?" Kakashi and Shizuka sighed and ignored him. "Long time no see is right… never thought I'd ever see you again. They told me that I was getting someone from the Kurotori clan but…" Kakashi mumbled, for the first time his smooth talking attitude gone. "You didn't really think that I'd fall to the dumps just like that did you!" Shizuka said fake shocked, standing up. "Course not, of all the Kurotori, you're stubbornness is amazing." Kakashi mumbled. Shizuka growled, "Watch it, copy ninja…" One could practically see the smirk under Kakashi's mask.

"You know… each… other? And _Lady_ Shizuka?" Naruto said, again. "Yes, I know him and back then many called me Lady Shizuka! I was next in line to be head of the clan!" Shizuka blurted. Sasuke leaned up against a tree watching with slight amusement as his new team member glared at Naruto and Kakashi. Naruto's eyes bulged out like a fishe's, and Kakashi sighed. "Ok, calm down. You're the new team seven, so you have to get along at least enough to work together."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, Naruto mumbled something about never working with Sasuke-baka, and Shizuka just closed her eyes and tried to tuned them out. "Ok, so I've got the number one knucklehead ninja, Naruto Uzumaki. The emotionless Sasuke Uchiha, and Shizuka Kurotori who I know nearly nothing about. Shizuka, what problem do you have with these boys? At least I know they can work together sometimes." Kakashi demanded. "Nothing. The fact that I have you as a sensei, and I have to work with Mr. full-of-himself-Uchiha here has just got me tired, that's all." Shizuka answered innocently, leaning back against a tree on the other side from Sasuke of opening of the path to the field that was training ground #1.

"We've got our first mission together tomorrow, so I want to see how well your teamwork can be. You've spent this month as sparing partners, this time your working together." Kakashi pulled out two bells from his pocket. "You have to get the bells from me. No rules just try and get them. You can keep them as souvenirs later."

"Not this again!" Naruto complained. "Come and get them." Kakashi taunted, tying them to his belt. '_So simple, I'll have this done within five minutes, and without my Byaringan._' Shizuka thought, sitting down on the stump. Sasuke same forward and nodded to Naruto, who nodded back. Sasuke ran forward to distract Kakashi who saw right through there plan, while Naruto formed a Rasengan before rushing forward as well.

- - - - - (Kakashi's Pov)

'_Same thing as usual, but Shizuka's just sitting there. I was curious of her skills, I heard that she was the only one to make it through the training without ever losing a fight. Now I'm even more curious._' Kakashi thought while he fended of Naruto and Sasuke's attacks. It cost him more energy then the first time and they fought together now. He pushed them back with a little force.

There was a quiet clanging of bells, from a distance. Kakashi looked down, the bells were gone. He heard Naruto and Sasuke gasp, and looked up. There sat Shizuka on the tree stump, her eyes closed like she'd never moved; the bells dangling from her hand.

"Done." She whispered just loud enough for them to hear, without opening her eyes. "Ho…w… HOW?" Naruto yelled. Sasuke looked at her shocked. She was so fast.

Kakashi too stared. '_When did she? When I was fighting Naruto and Sasuke? The speed, the silence, has she already mastered that technique? She was so silent and I didn't even feel the wind from her approach. Could she really be that fast?_' He thought. '_She is a Kurotori but… How? I've only ever seen two people with that kind of speed. The forth Hokage and Shizuka's father. Could she really have surpassed him?_'

Shizuka was completely unfazed, sitting there like nothing had happened at all. "Now, I think I'll be heading home. I think I'll keep these as a souvenir as you said." She said opening her eyes, revealing that she hadn't even used her Byaringan. She turned to the path, and tied the bells around her hair bun. Without another word, she walked out of there sight down the path. 


	7. The Power of the BlackBird

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but Shizuka and the Kurotori clan are mine. ('Do I REALLY have to do this every time? Really?")

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Chapter 6: The Power of the Blackbird

"Oh! And here Shizuka I forgot to give it to you yesterday, but it's yours." Lady Tsunade said handing Shizuka a leaf village headband. The new team seven stood in the Hokage's office, they had just received the what's-what for their mission. Shizuka looked at her wide-eyed at the Hokage herself pushed the headband into the girl's hands. "You're one of us now not a rogue ninja of Kumogakure any longer." Tsunade told her. Shizuka smiled, and untied her old Kumogakure headband from its spot around her neck. She re-tied the new Konoha one in its place and looked down at her old one. The symbol of Kumogakure complete with a long scratch across it signifying that she was a rogue ninja was no more. She was a shinobi of the hidden leaf now. She smiled, putting her old headband back in her bag. "Thank you… Lady Tsunade." Shizuka mumbled.

A half an hour later the new team seven stood at Konoha's gates, waiting for the subject of there C-rank escort mission. Naruto was jumpy excited to be out of the village on the first real mission since the last Chunin exams. Sasuke was as emotionless as always, leaning against the gate's left door. Kakashi was apparently of speaking with the subject, though he was probably just running late again. Shizuka stood on the opposite side of Sasuke again, sighing.

The bells from the day before were wrapped on a rose colored cord around her bun, helping it to stay in place. As per usual her deep brown bangs were spewed across her face covering her blind eye. Her new leaf headband was draped around her neck. Her grey kimono billowed in the light wind. Her eyes closed as she listened to the sounds around her. She relied so heavily on sound due to her blindness that she could here everything from here to the Hokage's office on the other side of town if she tried.

"Gah! Kakashi -sensei you took forever!" Naruto yelled when the silver-haired ninja walked up. Shizuka had heard him coming and found that he had indeed been speaking with someone important. Not the subject of there mission but to Master Jiraiya the sennin about the Akatsuki. Shizuka eyed Kakashi knowingly, giving him a look; it wasn't really there fault of course, only she knew that the Akatsuki's plans wouldn't come into affect for about another two years.

The group that they had to protect, a group of five traveling merchants handling some very expensive artifacts, walked up not far behind him. She closed her eyes again, this was bound to be fairly simple, the most the'd run into was a few rogue ninja, but thugs were much more likely. Thugs were easy to pick off, she'd had her own run ins with some of the worst of them. Rogue ninja's were always a bit trickier; you never knew who they were or what they could do. She had always praised herself on that. Many believed that there was no way that she could be a rogue, thinking that she's too small or too young, but she'd always proved herself.

"Ok, you know what were doing. Let's get going." Kakashi told them ignoring Naruto's complaints. Once they were on there road toward the Land of Rivers, all was fine. The five merchants who consisted three men, a woman and a child of about 9 years of age. One of the men explained that she was his daughter and that his wife had died when she was very young and had no one to take care of her while he was off doing business. The young girl, Ayame, jumped around, asking the teenage ninja random little questions along the way to ease the boredom. Naruto answered her questions eagerly, while as Sasuke just hn'd. Ayame came up to Shizuka last. "Miss ninja, what's it like being the only kunoichi on your team?" She asked the Kurotori. "Hmm… Well I guess it's not so bad, but I haven't decided yet, I've only been on there team for two days. This is my first mission with the boys here. I'll give you a real answer when we drop you off at your village. And please just call me Shizuka, alright Ayame-san?" Shizuka told the little girl, smiling. Ayame nodded.

"Yah! We all call her by her name right, Shizuka-chan, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto yelled. Shizuka smiled with Ayame at Naruto random intrusions. "Hn… Kurotori." Sasuke said venomously while he wacked Naruto over the head for calling him, "_Sasuke-teme_". Ayame giggled, pulling Naruto's attention from trying to hit Sasuke back to her.

It about midnight on the second day of there three day travel to the village of the merchants who traveled with them. Shizuka stood guard at camp. She sat in the middle stretching her Byakugan out to see all the area around her in a single glance. It wasn't hard to spot when they came. Thugs, Shizuka thought, no… rogue ninja. In an instant Shizuka had the rest of her team awake. Naruto woke the merchants with his loud yelling as Sasuke kicked him awake.

"How many?" Kakashi mumbled to Shizuka. "Only two. Rogue ninja, probably Chunin from the hidden grass village. Give me a minute." Shizuka whispered back. Pulling her hands up she folded her hands into a hand sign. "Byakugan." She mumbled, tightening her Byakugan to see exactly where they were. "Yup, definetly. Rogue Chunin from the grass, nothing huge." She told the jonin. Kakashi nodded, Shizuka really was like her father, scared of nothing.

The Chunin had obviously not expected for her to see them so easily and were panicked during the short fight. One died, result of Shizuka's exploding clones, and the other got away. The merchants were terrified. Little Ayame cowered behind her father, who stood firmly beside the tents. He was too proud to show fear, but Shizuka could sense it. The fear from the group of five leaked of them in waves, pounding through the air; giving her a headache. "Papa, why do people do these kind of things?" Ayame whispered to her father. "I don't know baby, but that's why these ninja are here to protect us." Her father told her.

"Ya! Don't worry Ayame we won't let them hurt you! Believe it!" Naruto yelled. "Quiet down, Naruto!" Shizuka said coldly. She sat down on the small stool that she'd been sitting on during her guard duty. Her head was in her hands, her fingers gently rubbing her temples, trying to rid her self of her headache. Her eyes were closed and she had a pained expression on her face. "Shizuka?" Kakashi mumbled, he knew just what was wrong with Shizuka, but chose to say nothing more. "I'm fine." She told them.

There was a sudden movement in the leaves that went unnoticed by all but her. Shizuka's head popped up in an instant, spinning to look at the bushes on her left. "Is there something there?" Naruto mumbled, tightening his grip on his kunai. She ignored him turning back to looking at the ground with her head in her hands. She glanced at the bushes without tilting her head. "You scared me… Kura." Shizuka said, without explanation. From the bushes flew a familiar peregrine falcon, who landed lightly on Shizuka's shoulder. "_I'm sorry, my lady._" She told the Kurotori in a gentle voice. "Gah! It was only some bird, eh? You had me worried for nothing!" Naruto grumbled loudly, while Sasuke remembered to stay quiet in less he wanted the bird messing up his hair again.

And without a doubt Kura gave a death glare to Naruto that could rival that of Sasuke's or Neji's and started rambling loudly about how she was not just some bird; she was a peregrine falcon of noble birth and the greatest hunter in her family. "Kura, there's really no point he can't understand you and your ranting is making my headache worse." Shizuka mumbled._ "Translate?"_ the flacon requested. "Huh?" Naruto mumbled, confused. "She pretty much just called you a moron." Shizuka glared at the ground as she spoke. Naruto proceeded to gawk at the bird only to be scared off by her menacing glare.

The path to the village where Team seven would leave the likeable bunch of merchants was clear and finished within the timeline they had set. The group did not have any more trouble with rogue ninja or thugs; the path was as silent as Kura's flight. The falcon had followed them to there destination, before leaving deeming that she was really of no use and was wanted home anyway.

Naruto was rambling, bored, as the group of Genin and their Jonin leader wandered back down the road. Sasuke was clenching his fist, dying to hit him over the head with the back of his hand to shut him up. Shizuka zoned out listening to the slight sound of a waterfall in the distance. '_Wait, a waterfall? We're nowhere near one._' She thought. Instantly stopping the former Kumogakure Nin activated her Byaringan and took a look. She saw it only seconds before it came. "Naruto, duck!" she yelled. Naruto whizzed around, narrowly missing the kunai as it dug its way deep into the bark of the tree behind him.

Kakashi instantly knew what was going on, there was more that just those to Kusa-nin around. The one who they'd accidentally killed had friends. "Shizuka, how many?" He asked trying to sense them out himself. "Three this time, two Chunin and one Jonin, all from Kusa. One of them is the same one we fought with last time." Shizuka told them. The Chunin were the first to show themselves, proving as a distraction so that the Jonin could take on Kakashi alone. Naruto and Sasuke paired of with the two Chunin leaving Kakashi and Shizuka standing in the middle. The Jonin, standing in pretty standard Kusa-nin attire, showed himself not long after. "Kakashi Hatake, the copy ninja; so you're the one who took down one of my men." The man said. "Satsujin Ryuketsu. In actuality if you want to know who killed your guy it was this little girl right here. A new Genin by just a few days, you ought to pay more attention to who you bring into your group." Kakashi countered. "You must be kidding me this little brat… (*snort, laugh snort*) … killing off my men? That's absurd! I never knew that the great copy ninja was a liar!" Satsujin laughed. Shizuka growled quietly behind Kakashi, "Let me at him, I'll show him just how much I am not some little brat!"

"You wanna go, girly? Ha, you wouldn't stand a chance! I'm a senior Jonin, you little twerp and you're a what did he say Genin of only a few days." The man continued foolishly to push her buttons. She jumped in front of Kakashi, gladly taking on the challenge. Kakashi held her back and gave her a stern look. "Go help Naruto and Sasuke." He told her. She scoffed but when she'd noticed that reinforcements had come to help the two Chunin she rushed off to the boys sides.

It was three-four now; her, Sasuke and Naruto fought against four Kusa Chunin. There team work wasn't the greatest because Sasuke and Shizuka's egos wouldn't let them fight together without fighting verbally with each other at the same time. Naruto complained about there stupid fighting and growled at them to stop and keep there head in the game. They were outnumbered after all and things only got worse when the rest of the gang showed up; turning the fight into a now three against six battle. "Two each." Naruto grinned at the challenge. "Hm, I'll take four since I'm not sure Uchiha can handle it." Shizuka smirked. Sasuke gave her the death glare of a life time, but Shizuka merely stared back at him innocently; she'd been through hell and back too many times to be fazed by a simple glare. The staring contest that was going on in the Genins heads was quickly interrupted by the fight though. The managed to take down two of the six rogues rather quickly, only to find Naruto already panting heavily from lack of chakra without using the Kyuubi's.

Shizuka glared at the remenants, one left to help his leader with Kakashi and then it was three on three. They managed to spilt the Genin up, and it wasn't long in till Naruto was knocked out. As her team member collapsed, Shizuka couldn't help but feel a quiver of fear running down her spine. To have Naruto, someone who just didn't give up, be knocked unconscious so easily... Shizuka was shocked, perhaps she'd underestimated them. She had single handedly taken down senior Jonin like Kakashi or the enemy, but then to have trouble with a couple of Chunin. It made her realize how long it had really been since she'd used her true power, and that she might need too if she wasn't careful.

Taking a deep breath with her eyes closed she slipped into stance. "Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four Palms." She yelled, effectively beaten the Chunin in front of her. She looked over too see that Sasuke too had dealt with his opponent. The one who had knocked Naruto out, stumbled his way over only to collapse from exhaustion at there feet. The two Genin made there way over too Kakashi who was just barely holding his own against the two ninja before him. Satsujin jumped back from the fight, with the Chunin on his tail. In an instant Shizuka was at his side. "This is for calling me a little twerp." She said and with a giggle she ran a kunai through the Chunin beside him's back, narrowly missing a vital spot on purpose. Within second she was back at Sasuke and Kakashi's side, leaving her kunai to fall to the ground, covered in blood. Kakashi frowned at this, the Kurotori's were usually a gentle people; well in till you pissed them off, then they could be brutal in a grin-and-giggle-as-I-kill-you kind of way.

Sasuke paid no attention to her at all, focusing on the gaping Jonin a few meters ahead of them. The man looked up from the body of the dying body of the Chunin, to find himself face to face with three Sharingan users. "So the little girl's an Uchiha…" Shizuka grinned, "And a Hyuuga to be exact." She giggled, floating down gracefully into the same stance as before. "Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four Palms." She said ever so calmly before lunging forward with speed even the Sharingan could barely catch. Kakashi and Sasuke watched in awe at how Satsujin even managed to block Shizuka's hits, but block and avoid them he did.

Shizuka grumbled, not being able to hit the rogue without wasting chakra she couldn't afford to lose in her tired state. She didn't even notice in till it was too late when he sent a strong punch toward her stomach. The force of the hit sent her flying back to the tree line several meters away.

He stalked towards her as she pushed herself weakly of the ground to sit. She wondered mildly why Kakashi wasn't doing anything as the man stalked forward with killing intent in his eyes. She looked to see that Kakashi was down on his knees, having been hit while she was down. Sasuke was beside him, simply staring. Shizuka looked back to the man in front of her, fear making her shake. In her fall she'd hurt her ankle and was chakra-depleted, she wouldn't be able to avoid his blows.

Satsujin pulled back his fist aiming to punch her, and instinct took over. Just as he launched forward, he was intercepted by two giant midnight black feathered wings. They were the color of obsidian or the sky in it's darkest hour, there was not a fleck of light in the wall between them. Shizuka was very used to the darkness they created; hiding behind a shield of wings was only natural for her, though for the others it was quite a shock. Kakashi was the only who bore a look of only mild surprise, he'd seen the black wings of the Kurotori too many times for it too faze him any longer.

Shizuka stood with a slight smirk on her face. The giant wings clawed there way out of her back and with them her nails sharpened into talons and her right eye blazed the color of bright amber, with her Byaringan shining with power beside it.

- (Sasuke's POV) - -

Black suddenly interrupted Sasuke's view of Shizuka, sitting pinned against a tree as she was about to be hit. It took him a second to realize what it was; wings sprouting from Shizuka's back. Tatsuhiro had said that she'd had a third Kekkai Genkai, but he hadn't expected anything like that to be the Kurotori's power. His Sharingan spun around lazily a few times giving a half-heated attempt to see how that power was contained within her small body.

The young Kurotori grinned, evilly almost, and stood. The Kusa Jonin took a few steps back in surprise. "Those wings… No… It's impossible…" He muttered. Sasuke noticed how Shizuka stood only on one leg, and on her toes, too. She stood as graceful as a swan and as powerful as an eagle. He was finally beginning to see why they called her a Blackbird. Her dark wings folded partially behind her, and from here, several feet away, Sasuke could tell that they were as sharp as any kunai. His eyes landed on the Jonin's hand which was lying at his side, bruised, bloody and broken.

"Think again." Shizuka whispered the wind carrying her words as it always did. Her face had turned stone cold, she was serious now. Before Sasuke had seen her serious, or so he'd thought, but that was nothing on this. If she hadn't been fighting seriously in her fight with him them then he'd probably had yet to see the extravagance of her true powers. Her without her wings was like him without his Sharingan in a fight, good but not half of what it could be.

The fight had once again commenced but when the Uchiha advance forward to help the girl, or at least get some action himself, Kakashi held him back. "Wait; you'll only get hurt. Don't interrupt her. She's acting completely by instinct now; she won't distinguish from foe and those who stand in her way." Kakashi told him. He looked up at the white-haired jonin.

- (Shizuka's Pov) - -

She dodged and attacked. The moves came to her mind in a blink of eye, were completed and thrown away within an instant. Her Byaringan spun, coming up easily with the next moves to dodge and the ones to attack. The fight raged, the noise of the others' heavy breaths and the sound of metal clashing; steel wing against kunai, the sound of pounding and tearing, fist against claw, and most of all the sound of there too fast heartbeats.

The battlefield between them was one of a fight of two experience fighters. Two rogue ninjas with each there own blood stained hands. Shizuka was completely oblivious to her genin team standing on the sidelines. Naruto hung loosely at Kakashi's side, still unconscious, while Sasuke stood with an emotionless face pulled over his shock and curiosity. It was obvious that he longed to join the fight, but Kakashi held him back.

She dove in and out of attacks and threw a few punches herself. Stepping back she jumped up a few feet and balanced on the air with her wings. "Secret technique: black tornado." She mumbled, spinning as quickly as with her Kaiten (An: the Hyuga spinning thing). Her wings extended and shot out steel tipped feathers 360 degrees around. She got a faint visual of Kakashi pulling Sasuke down to duck out of the way and another on of her enemy doing the same. It enraged her that he avoided.

Shizuka growled, things were going nowhere. Bounding back a few steps she pulled her hands up and flipped through the hands signs to one of her jutsu. "Wind style: Tekko Hane no jutsu!" With a few flaps of her giant wings she was in the air. A few black feathers fell from her wings only to turn to steel and split the air around them as they headed towards the enemy. Stunned by a few feathers twirling there way into his gut the Jonin was unable to move. He plucked them out revealing a bloody hole, and stood only to be caught with a steel wing to his throat.

Shizuka stood a few feet away one wing gently folded at the side of her body and the other curled around acting as if it would if it was a sword pressed against his throat. Her light kimono had a long rip only one of its arms, though she wasn't hurt. Her long hair was falling out of it's tight bun, hair sticking out, hinting at its true length. Her Byaringan eye spun lazily reminding the Kusa-nin that if he tried to move she would know before he even could.

'_I'm tired; it's been a while since I dragged my wings around like this. I need to finish this soon.'_ She thought, panting. As she was about to attack she heard the cracking of a twig behind her and spun around faster than the eye could see. Her unused wing flung itself to the throat of the one who was behind her while the other stayed where it was.

Her eyes widened. Her wings fell slack to the ground in shock. A thin line of scarlet blood dripped from the throat of Sasuke Uchiha onto her midnight black wing. His Sharingan eyes stared at her dully, showing very little emotion.

Satsujin, now free to move, stood still for a moment, not wanting to have the young girl notice him. It wasn't long in till he attacked them. The Uchiha jumped out of the way, giving warning to her. Shizuka spun to block the attack and hit the pressure point on the back of the man's neck. He fell to the ground with a heavy thud, unconscious.

Shizuka glanced up at Sasuke, only to meet his stone cold black eyes. Her eyes widened for a second before her wings spread behind her and she disappeared in the direction of the forest opposite to Konoha.

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An: Well how was that? We have finally revealed the Kekkai Genkai of the Kurotori clan! If you didn't get it then: Its pretty much Shizuka with huge black wings, her right eye turned an amberish color, and her nails sharpened like Kiba's or Naruto when he's pissed off. I will explain three things next chapter; Kakashi's link to Shizuka, the Kurotori Kekkai Genkai, and the role of the Kurotori clan in Kumogakure. Oh and correct my Japanese if I got it wrong, I used Google translate.

(The jutsu that she used was supposed to be "Steel feather jutsu" so if I got it wrong tell my and I'll get around to fixing it.)

Tell me too weather it's better for me to use the Japanese names for jutsus and stuff or if it's better if I use the English dubbed. I'm kind of using a bit of both right now.

Ps. Satsujin Ryuketsu, is a name of our one chapter enemy here made by my best friend, **Gaga-the-monster**, so I dedicate this chapter to her.

Hope you liked it! :D Till the next chapter!


	8. Memories

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but Shizuka is mine… I hate doing this…

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Previously on… Daughter of the Blackbird!

(An: Sorry for my jokes that many don't understand but me and my friend watched Inuyasha the abridged and one of the episodes started with "PREVIOUSLY ON NARUTO!" so yah… anyway back to the fic)

_Shizuka spun to block the attack and hit the pressure point on the back of the man's neck. He fell to the ground with a heavy thud, unconscious. _

_Shizuka glanced up at Sasuke, only to meet his stone cold black eyes. Her eyes widened for a second before her wings spread behind her and she disappeared in the direction of the forest opposite to Konoha._

- - -(Sasuke's POV)- - - Chapter 7: Memories

Sasuke stood silently, staring at the spot in which his younger teammate had disappeared. The bushes still swayed slightly from the wind of her approach. Kakashi stood beside him, hauling an unconscious Naruto on his back. "Come on, we'll go on ahead and make camp." He told the Uchiha boy. Sasuke looked up at his sensei. "Don't worry; she'll catch up when she's ready. Just give her some air to breath, she just needs some space." Kakashi said, turning back towards the way they'd been heading before the attack. Sasuke followed silently, worrying a bit about Shizuka. '_Worrying? What am I thinking? Why do I care what happens to_ _her?'_ Sasuke thought. He could justify in his head that it was just because he would need her if he wanted to take the Chunin exams again in four months, but in his heart he knew it was a lie. '_Caring… I shouldn't. I can't, all that matters is killing Itachi._'

Kakashi and him continued for a little while in till they made camp not too far away. Kakashi sat Naruto down on a fallen tree before starting to set up. "I'm going to look for Shizuka." Sasuke blurted out before he could stop himself.

Kakashi looked up at the Uchiha boy and nodded. Sasuke leapt of to the trees just beside them. "Sasuke… Be careful. Shizuka's not in control of her emotions right now. I'd bet money to say that she'll even be scared of you when she see's you. If she's ruffles her feathers don't walk up to her. She could hurt you without realizing it. Just be careful, Sasuke." Kakashi told him in a rare serious tone. "And how do you know this?" Sasuke mumbled. "In all my years in Anbu black ops, I became good friends with Shizuka's father, Hayato Kurotori." Kakashi admitted.

- - - (Shizuka's POV) - - -

She couldn't handle his stone gaze any longer. Thought his obsidian eyes held no fury at her unconsciously hurting him, Shizuka was riddled with guilt. She'd hurt her teammate, weather it was the rude Uchiha heir or not, she'd hurt her teammate. Her wings spread behind her and she took of with speed only the Yodaime Hokage could have had any chance of matching.

She didn't know where she was going; only that she was gone. Her heart beat faster than it should as she soared through the skies almost completely silent, only the fast beats of her heart and wings could be heard. To her the soft pounding of her midnight wings could mean only one thing; she was distracted. Her flight was usually as silent as a hunting owl's, as went for all of the Kurotori clan; she too was a master of the silent kill. Distractions meant death in her world, yet she couldn't stop herself from overreacting under the gaze of his obsidian eyes. They were such a familiar color, such a reminder to the life she'd once had. Her mother's eyes had been black, like his, like all of the Uchiha. A reminder, like when she rolled her long strait hair out of it's bun.

Shizuka shook her head wildly, trying to rid herself of the memories she'd tried so hard to block behind the face of a happy teenager. She broke down, realizing just how much she missed her parents. She remembered that day, the day her father left on a mission that would end in his death.

- - - (Shizuka's Flashback) - - -

_I stood on the front porch of the Kurotori manor, gazing though the barred gate, passed the guards, and at the street. The gates opened slowly to reveal my father, who walked in with a grim look on his face. "Otou-san?" I asked him. When he looked up, his face suddenly turned into a brilliant smile, but I knew it was fake. He was just trying to keep me from worrying about what had happened at the meeting of clan heads. Both him and my uncle had gone together too this one, since the old Raikage insisted they both be there. _

_Tenshi came out of the shoujo doors behind me and laid a hand on my shoulder. Hayato smiled at his wife, and turned us around towards the back yard; our favorite place. "Why don't you go play with your brothers, Shizuka? I have to speak with your mother for a moment, we'll be over soon." He told me. I nodded and grinned, running around the field with a happiness I hadn't showed in weeks after the Genin exams. Little did my parents know I stayed hiding behind a tree to listen in. _

"_Hayato… What happened?" Tenshi asked her husband. "They decided not to pass Shizuka for the Genin exams, because of what happened. They're going to take back her Hitai-ate _(Headband)_, and send her back to the academy. She's the only one who made it through and doesn't get to pass." He answered. I gasped, after all I'd gone through, after a week in intensive care for mental disruption, they were going to send me back to the academy and make me do it all over again in a few years. I was only eight years old and exposed to the same Genin test as those in the hidden 'blood' mist had been long ago. My delicate fingers wrapped around my then unscratched Kumogakure Hitai-ate. _

"_No…"my father patted his wife's back gently as she sank to her knees on the back porch steps. "Listen, don't tell her alright, not right away. I'm leaving for a mission tonight and I'll be back in two days. I'll tell her then, but you have to help me calm her down because she'll probably either cry or go into an explosive fit." He told her, grinning slightly, not really believing his daughter would chose the latter. Tenshi nodded. That's when they noticed the slight sound of tears behind the tree. I heard my mother whispered "Oh no…" and I came out from behind the tree. I ran into my mother's arms. My father sat down beside us, me sitting in my mother's lap with tears running down my cheeks in small streaks. He spread his large black wings, nearly double the size of mine at the time, and pulled us into his arms. He wrapped the giant feathery surface around all three of us, protecting us against the cold autumn breeze and bringing us back to memories of happier times._

- - - (End flashback) - - -

Shizuka sighed, running her still delicate clawed fingers over her new Konoha Hitai-ate, as the next memory of her father flashed in front of her eyes.

- - - (Another flashback) - - -

_I wandered aimlessly around the Kurotori manor where my family and I lived. My mother was in the kitchen cooking up a feast for my father's return, knowing fully well that they would be feeding his teammate too. I walked into the living room that was attached to the kitchen, smiling up at my mother. She was in a laughable state, dashing back and forth in the kitchen looking for spices and ingredients. I even saw her using her Byaringan to locate things in the cabinets as she tried to make everything perfect before my father arrived. _

_We were suddenly interrupted by one of the lower level Chunin of the clan when he burst in, demanding that we come with him. He pulled us out of the house and towards the gate. My mother still wore her apron with a stirring spoon, covered in red pasta sauce in her hand. With the urgency the Chunin displayed, she immediately realized something was wrong. The wooden spoon fell from her grasp, landing in a clunk and a splatter on the ground. She was out the gate of the estate in an instant, still wearing her apron. _

_I ran after her a second later, leaving the Chunin in the dust. We arrived at the gates to the village, where a small crowd had gathered. My mother hid me behind her, not wanting me to see the horror. There everyone gasped as Kakashi Hatake, my father's teammate, dragged a limp corps over his shoulder into the gate, panting heavily. _

_My mother fell to her knees at the sight, immediately breaking down, allowing me to see past her at the body. It was my father. Kakashi sank to his knees in exhaustion, letting his friend's lifeless body fall to the ground beside him. I was at my father's side in an instant, wings spread and sharpened in anger with my Byaringan eye blazing with hatred at those who had killed my father. "I'm sorry… I tried to save him." Kakashi whispered._

- - - (End flashback) - - -

Shizuka growled at the memory remembering how she'd even hated her new sensei after seeing that he was the only survivor of the fight that had killed her father. She'd forgiven the Konoha Anbu member, but a barely understandable hatred stayed in the back of her mind. Kakashi Hatake, who had been sent by the Hokage to help with the alliances between Konoha and Kumo, had been place with her father on a two-man squad to live in Kumo for four years. The death of her father had cut his mission in half.

Shizuka felt herself growing weak with each passing beat of her wings; she needed to land, soon. She flew down through the trees and landed clumsily in her fatigue, scrunching one wing into a tree on the way down. '_Great now I can't go any where. I went to far to waddle back on one foot, with my injured one and no matter how much I'd like to I can't fly with only one working wing.'_ She though, growling at herself. Sighing she laid down on her side in the crevice between two roots of a giant tree. There she lay curled in a ball on her side with her uninjured wing draped over her like a blanket and the other behind her laying flat against the tree.

Shizuka laid there for what must have been at least an hour despite feeling like only second. She lay, silent and unmoving in till a sight of fear flashed before her.

- - - (Sasuke's POV again, promise I won't be switching this much in the future just wanted to point out the different POV's) - - -

Sasuke wandered through the forest, his Sharingan blazing in attempt to sense out Shizuka's chakra in the trees. Why he bothered looking for the girl was still a mystery in his head. All he knew is that he felt the need to make sure that she was safe. Blocking of the voice in his head telling him to hurry, he scanned the forest for a sense of her chakra.

It wasn't long in till he caught it. Blazing like a warm fire, but ice blue and a violet in color, it stood out in the forest of greens and browns. He ran towards it, slowing down with each step as he ran closer knowing fully well that she'd be able to sense him.

Shizuka was curled up in a ball on the forest floor, one of her kimono sleeves in tatters and mostly covered in dirt from her messy landing. Her feathered black wings were draped over her body and her hair was falling out of its bun. Sasuke looked at the girl, staring without showing emotion at her small body.

He stepped out from the tree he'd been standing behind and watched as Shizuka's eyes opened. One the color of amber and the other the red, white and black of her Byaringan. She saw him and curled over on to her stomach in a way that would be easier to stand quickly if need be. Her clawed hands dug into the ground, a look of fear on her face as she analyzed Sasuke's every move with her all-seeing-copy-wheel-eye.

He took a step forward and saw her flinch visibly. He paused before taking another two steps; only another five or six away from the Kurotori. She balanced her self on her hands and the side of one leg, and ruffled her feathers a small amount at first. With another step towards her, she flinched and ruffled her feathers out completely, making them seem almost double there size. A small hiss drew from her mouth to warn Sasuke to back off but he didn't move.

'_She terrified of me. She's acting like an animal tying to scare of something bigger than it._' The Uchiha boy thought. Shizuka stared him down trying not to show fear, but he could see it in her eyes. Sasuke took the few gentle steps forward cautiously as to not provoke the animalistic acting girl before him. Without thinking he ran a soft hand over the hard surface of one of her wings, as he bent down on his knees to her level. It was hard and cold like steel, the edges sharper than any kunai.

Shizuka froze under his touch, before losing the crazed look in her eyes and opting for staring at him in simple shock. "Steel wings… interesting." Sasuke mumbled to himself. The hard surface under his palm softened revealing a bed of true feathers underneath. Running his hand along the large black wing, he felt her racing heartbeat underneath the thick layer of midnight feathers. He stroked them with a gentleness he didn't know he had without even knowing why. Curiosity he figured.

"You're… not going to… hurt me?" A small voice came from the figure under the heavy wing. Shizuka looked up at him, fear flashing in her eyes. '_She thinks… I'm going to hurt… her?'_ He thought. He felt her shaking under his hand which rested on the surface on her wing. "I'm… a freak. I look like a m-m-mo… monster." She whispered, mostly to herself. Sasuke shook his head. He stood to force himself away from continuing to stroke Shizuka's soft wing without reason.

She shrunk back away from him, her fear returning. "Can you walk?" He asked. She shook her head. "Can you fly?" Shook her head again. Sasuke sighed. "Do you want me to carry you?" Shook her head again. "Will you let me carry you?" He mumbled. She nodded.

He walked back the few step towards her and swept his arms under her to carry her bridal-style. Her wings curled under her, so that he held them up too. Her delicate clawed hands clung onto his shirt after being picked up without much of a warning. Her face flushed as Sasuke ignored her completely and began his trek back to camp.

Sasuke walked back into camp slowly, where Naruto laid still asleep in the tent and Kakashi sat quietly just outside reading his Icha Icha Paradise. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at them but didn't say a word. As Sasuke passed Shizuka's bag, propped up against a tree, Shizuka's small arm reached down an grabbed something out of it. Sasuke looked down at her, still in his arms. Clutched in her hands was a beige rabbit stuffed animal with one white ear. He sighed, even someone strong like Shizuka could really be childish sometimes.

"How soon in till you can hide your wings again, Shizuka?" Kakashi mumbled, nose still in his book. "Eh… by morning?" She answered, peaking at her right hand, covered in bandages like Rock Lees'. He nodded.

"You can sit me down now, Sasuke. Thank you." Shizuka whispered. Sasuke sat her down gently on the fallen tree that sat beside the fire that Kakashi had made beside the tent. Shizuka curled up on her side, balancing her injured foot and wing of the edge before wrapping her uninjured wing around herself like a blanket. She was asleep in seconds using the rabbit as a pillow.

"You should get some sleep. I'll keep watch." Kakashi told him. Sasuke gave him a look before crawling in the tent. After pushing a spread out Naruto out of the way he pulled in his sleeping bag and laid down.

Sasuke woke that morning to Naruto's yelling… again. He crawled his way out of the tent, flung back on his Hitai-ate, and ran a hand though his spiked hair. "Why does Shizuka-chan have wings?" Naruto screamed, effectively waking both her and Sasuke. "Gah… Naruto-kun, quiet down." Shizuka mumbled fumbling tiredly back to her resting place. "Shizuka-chan! What's with the wings?" He yelled again.

Shizuka eyes opened, revealing their amber and red irises. Her black wings rose of the ground, shifting around as she stood gracefully. A single feather fell loose and she bent to pick it up. She examined it half-heatedly as she ignored Naruto. It hardened into steel and she launched it towards him. Seconds later Naruto was pinned by the sleeve of his orange jacket against a tree a few feet back, by a single black feather. Shizuka yawned widely and laid back down innocently.

Sasuke watched while he took down the tent as Naruto pulled himself out of his jacket, unable to pull out the feather, lodged deep into the tree. Naruto walked up toward Shizuka who was pretending to sleep and demanded foolishly to know what that was for. She didn't answer but did pull herself up so that she could look Naruto in the eye. They were the same height, Sasuke noted, glad to be a bit taller then the other two.

"Shizuka, what are those wings?" Naruto asked a bit more calmly. "This is my Kekkai Genkai, Naruto. Kuroi Tekko Tsubasa, the black steel wing of the Kurotori." Shizuka told him firmly, looking him in the eye and showing him her delicately clawed hands. "Kuroi Tekko Tsubasa?" Sasuke watched from the sidelines, glad that Naruto's questions were answering his own curiosity. The only thing that he was missing was how Shizuka had managed to heal that quickly. Her ankle had been sprained and some of the bones in her wing broken, things that shouldn't just heal over night. But here she was standing firmly and wiggling around her wings as if nothing had happened. He had a feeling it had something to do with her bandaged right hand.

"You… A master of the silent kill? No way!" Naruto yelled behind him. Sasuke turned back towards them a split second later to see Naruto standing on his toes with a black wing pressed precariously close to his throat. "Had that been sharpened that would had been your head." Shizuka mumbled pulling back her wing as she stuff her rabbit back into her bag and went to stand beside Kakashi and Sasuke on the path back to Konoha.

"Shizuka, I think you should fold your wings away before we go any where. It might not be smart to walk around like that." Kakashi mumbled behind his book.

Her head popped up instantly. Her cheeks blushed crimson as she shut of her Kekkai Genkais'. She laughed at forgetting about that as the Genin team took of down the road followed by their reluctant Jonin leader.

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An: That's all folks! For this chapter that is… soon the real drama will unfold… :D It's Amazahh! (Yay, NTAS jokes) Can't wait till next time! See you later!

Wait! Wait! Wait! I forgot again! I wanted to ask any bodies opinion on how this should go. I have two choices, either this fic will be really really long or I end it after Sasuke leaves (which he will) and make a Sequel for the Pre-Shippuden and Shippuden parts of the story. If nobody answers this the decision will be made by me and **Gaga-the-monster** later and I will post what I decide some time in the next few chapters. But I want your opinion! So help please! Cause I don't know what to do!

If I make it one long story I will be able to use big time skips and write about parts that happen before the pre shippuden timing that I'm going to use (which is about 2-3 months before Naruto's return). If I do a first part and then a sequel the beginning of the sequel will most likely be a few flashbacks and then continue on with the story from there. So really there's not much difference between the two.


	9. To Relaxing, Fan girls, and Training

- Me (Mimm): Shizuka do the disclaimer!

- Shizuka: Sasuke do the disclaimer!

- Sasuke: Hn.

- Shizuka: what was that…? (*gives Sasuke epic glare of doom*)

- Sasuke: (*flinches*) Uh. Mimm does n-not own Naruto.

- Shizuka: BUT she does own me! (=

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Chapter 8: To Relaxing, Fan girls, and Training

After the return to Konoha on Shizuka's first mission, team seven went on many different missions. Lady Tsunade thankfully gave the group the harder missions rather then too easy ones, like when team ten had to go catch Tora the cat for the fifth time. Life was good amongst the three Genin, if you could handle a hyperactive blond, grumpy Uchiha and a quiet little bird. Not to mention the rabid fangirl attacks that tended to happen when you hung out with said grumpy Uchiha.

It was a quiet day after team seven got back from there latest mission, in till that is Sakura came over to talk to Sasuke, and Shizuka got in a fight with Sakura, and Naruto tried to stop them. Team seven had decided to go hang out at the park near Shizuka and Sasuke's houses. They lay down on the grass in the field beside the row of trees that hide it from the lake. On the opposite edge of the field Shikamaru sat at a small Shougi tournament, winning against every Jonin and Chunin that dared challenge him, managing to gain himself some change and a pocky box from bets. In the middle were mixed matched groups of people hanging out and running around.

"Hey _Sasuke-kun_ why don't you come hang out with me?" Sakura said when she made her way across the field towards them. Sasuke barely lifted an eye. "Hn." Shizuka grinned from her spot between on the other side of Naruto who was laying propped up on his elbows between them. "Looks like Uchiha needs another lesson in how to talk properly." She muttered quietly, still lying with her eyes closed. Sadly, Sakura had heard it and wasn't happy.

"Are you making fun of _my _Sasuke-kun?" Sakura yelled. "Generally that would be the term used for my insults toward Mr. Emo-Uchiha over there and by the looks of it he doesn't like being called '_my Sasuke-kun'_ either." Shizuka said sitting up to get a better look at look of almost fear on his face. "Actually I'm under the impression that he doesn't really want to see you at all…" She muttered. Again Sakura heard Shizuka's taunts and puffed out a response. "Your just saying that cause you want him all to yourself!"

With the wisp of the breeze and a ruffling of her grey kimono Shizuka was up in Sakura's face. "You think… (Laugh) that I… like… the Teme?" Shizuka fumbled, having picked up Naruto's term for the Uchiha. And with that she burst out laughing like a lunatic. She wobbled around laughing as Sasuke, who was on the ground still looking scarred at the idea of a cat fight between one of his fangirls and a teammate, and Naruto, who was waiting to see if he'd need to intervene, stared. Sakura took that instant as Shizuka had let down her guard and stood on unstable feet to push her to the ground.

Shizuka quickly found herself doing a face plant to the ground, only to land on something that definitely wasn't the ground. She opened her eyes to find herself nose-to-nose with Sasuke. Sakura was furious. After stumbling of Sasuke, Shizuka turned to glare at her. Sakura took of running with Shizuka on her tail and Naruto bolting after the in attempt to stop them from killing each other. Leaving Sasuke on the grass, in shock that he'd almost kissed his teammate.

Not long after Sasuke looked up to see that across the field Shizuka was calmly watching Shikamaru and Kakashi playing Shougi against each other. Behind them Sakura was pinned to a tree upside down a few feet of the ground. Looking closer Sasuke could tell what Shizuka had done. She'd tied Sakura's legs up with her socks and then lifted her and pinned them to the tree with a feather. At Sakura's side Naruto stood trying to let her down without bonking her head on the ground. He them proceeded to drag his team down to Ichiraku's and eat as much miso ramen as he could, only to leave Sasuke with the entire bill.

- - - (An: Liked my random moment?) - - -

Later that night Shizuka walked in through her apartment door. Naruto had offered to walk her home, and even though his place was in the opposite direction wouldn't take no for an answer. On the way they bid goodbye to Sasuke as they passed the Uchiha manor. Shizuka plopped her way down onto the couch, pulling off the shoes. She wandered over to the window to make sure all the blinds were closed and then curled up on the couch with a book, using her wings as a blanket. It was only minutes before she unknowingly fell asleep with the book resting on her nose.

'_Knock. Knock. Knock.'_ Shizuka heard in the distance. She shook her head in annoyance knocking the book off her face and onto the ground. She growled when she realized that she'd have to answer it. "Shizuka." Sasuke's voice drifted through the door. "Hm? Sasuke?" She mumbled. "Yes. Open the door." He grumbled. "You alone?" Shizuka asked him, wondering if she should close her wings or not. "Yes."

She lifted one of her great wings and attempted to use it to open the door so that she didn't have to get up. From where she sat the tip just reached the door. With a stretch and a sigh of frustration the door slid open to reveal Sasuke standing there holding a bag in his hand. There was a look of dulled shock when he saw Shizuka curled up on the couch with her clothes and hair in disarray. He gave her a questioning look. "Heh… I think I ate two too many bowls of ramen. My body's telling me to go sleep it of. I must have nodded off while reading." She mumbled. "Not as bad as Naruto, he ate ten to many bowls as far as I'm concerned." He grumbled something about having to pay the whole bill. "Anyway, Teuchi just came by my place, cause he didn't know where you live. He said that you left these at Ichiraku's, an' asked me to bring them over." Sasuke continued, tossing Shizuka the bag in his hand. Inside was the new pack on Senbon needles that she had bought at the beginning of the day. She'd sat them down beside her because she had no where to put them while she was eating, since she'd left her weapon pouch at home for the day.

When her stomach rumbled in pain, Shizuka realized just how much too much she'd eaten. She pulled herself up to a sitting position as Sasuke watched, a few steps away just inside the doorway of her apartment. Had he blinked he would have missed her running towards the bathroom. He walked in after her, thankful that her hair was pinned up so that he wouldn't feel guilty for not holding it up for her as she puked out her diner. She flopped back to the ground, resting her head on the edge of the bathtub.

Sasuke sighed as Shizuka grumble something about being sick. He bent down an opened the cabinet underneath the sink in her bathroom and pulled out one of the neatly stacked face cloths. Shizuka didn't even blink when he dampened it and placed it on her forehead. He shook his head, she really shouldn't have eaten that much, even if she'd only eaten half of what Naruto ate.

Shizuka fell asleep again there and Sasuke carried her to her bed. He lifted the covers and placed a still Shizuka under them before leaving without a word or hesitation.

By the next morning things were back to normal. Sasuke was done being nice, and had turned back into "The Teme". Naruto was asking Shizuka random questions about her Kekkai Genkai, And Shizuka was listening to the bird gossip. The team was relaxed sitting on the dock of the lake between the two Sharingan user's houses, taking a break before going back to training at the near by training field.

Sasuke had conned the team into training for the day instead of lounging around for the day. He wanted to test his skills against Shizuka again. This time at full power, and without interruptions. Despite what Shizuka's brother had said about it being obvious who would have won the fight, two weeks ago, he refused to believe that he would have lost that fight. There was no way someone of the same Genin ranking as them could have managed to plow through all of them without losing once.

When the team made there way to the training field, which was just a large grassy clearing, they saw they're Sensei sitting on a bench on the edge of the field, reading Icha Icha Paradise as always. "Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here?" Naruto exclaimed. "Lady Tsunade caught wind that you would be training here today and sent me to make sure that Shizuka and Sasuke don't kill each other." Kakashi sighed, not wanting to be there. "So I decided since I'm stuck here anyway that we'd do a little exercise. We're going to see how good you all are at fending off more then one attacker. I'll chose one of you and you'll fight against both of your teammates. If that seems to easy I'll step in and fight a bit even, though I doubt that will happen. After that if you're not still tired then we'll do one-on-one rotations. And you'll have a chance to either, your choice, fight against me or relax a bit before fighting again. What do you think?" He told them. All members of Team Seven nodded in agreement.

"Alright then… first up… Shizuka, let's see how you fare against Naruto and Sasuke." The masked Jonin mumbled. Shizuka grinned and jumped back away from the boys. "Alright, Go!" And so the fight commenced.

With a nod of approval from Kakashi, Shizuka activated all three of her Kekkai Genkai at once. Her wings spread graciously behind her, making her body seem even smaller in comparison, and her Byaringan eye spun. It was easy to say that Naruto and Sasuke team work wasn't the greatest, being that they were rivals after all, but it did prove to be a challenge to the young Kurotori. With Naruto obviousness and Sasuke speed they made for a pretty good duo. While Naruto distracted her from one side, attacking without giving her time to stop and get her eye on Sasuke movements, and Sasuke disappearing and reappearing on her other, it was hard, even for her someone who's mastered the Sharingan and Byakugan, to keep track of them both. Naruto was unpredictable, throwing Kunai, kicking and even throwing in a Rasengan for good measure. Naruto bolted towards her with a Rasengan in hand, while Sasuke was nowhere within her seeing range, even thought she could see for an easy two meters three-hundred-and-sixty degrees around.

It was only when she notice the loud chirping of birds did she notice Sasuke approaching behind her. It was the chirping sound that threw her off, rather then the voices she usually heard when real bird sang. His Chidori, sounded like piercing chirping noises, like what everyone else heard when they heard birds. She so rarely heard that noise, because when a bird sang it was a voice she heard.

Sasuke was on her right, Chidori in hand, and Naruto, to her left, a Rasengan blazing in his palm. Shizuka back stepped, trying to jump out of the way. Her wings curled in front of her where she had been at the force of the wind created by her movement. She was just pulling them back out of the path of destruction when The double attack's clashed together. Shizuka jumped back more ignoring the burning on her end of her wings. Naruto and Sasuke were forced back by the two attacks clashing and were both collapsed on their backs several feet away, staring at the spot where they'd hit each other.

Shizuka slid to the ground and pulled her aching wings in front of her. On each side there was a Rasengan-sized circle, near the end, of burnt feathers. She flipped them over. The inside was undamaged and she wasn't bleeding. She raised her head, laying her wings back down beside her, and looked towards her teammates. Neither looked hurt, because of her wings partially blocking them from each other. Kakashi helped Naruto and Sasuke to their feet and they all came towards her. Kakashi offered his hand to help her up, but she ignored him. She leaned back down to examine her wings. They were healing, there wasn't much damage done.

He sighed. "I think we'd better call it a day." Kakashi mumbled. "I'm fine." The boys both aid at the same time, turning to glare at each other. "Shizuka?" Kakashi asked. "I'm fine. Give me a few minutes and then we'll go on to there turn." She told him. Shizuka eyed her wings. They were just finishing healing. Naruto and Sasuke took the time to sit for a few minutes, pick up stray Kunai, and pull Shuriken out of a few trees, while Kakashi, big surprise, went back to reading. In minutes Shizuka's wings were completely healed and most of the missing feathers had grown back. She chuckled, knowing that the only reason that they'd grown back that quickly was that Ryoto knew how much she hated when she lost feathers.

The group trained or hours, and after a while Kakashi gave up, figuring that there was no reason to stay after what he had planned was done and it was obvious that Shizuka and Sasuke weren't going to kill each other. The three Genin ended up slumping back to there separate houses after the day had ended, half-asleep and hungry after skipping lunch.

Shizuka curled up on her couch after cooking herself dinner, with her meal and the book she'd been reading last night on the coffee table. Yawning she opened it and started reading as she ate.

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An: GAHHH! NOOO! This is the shortest chapter since the second one! No, I'm supposed to be making my chapters longer!

… … …

Anyway, ignore my ranting. I kind of ran dry of idea here so did a really random filler chapter. I have some planning to do before I right any more, because I have to find out how many more chapters I want to do before I finish the first part. This Is the eighth Chapter and I'm looking forward to doing about 10- 15 more in the first half and then have the second half be a bit longer then that. I'm not really sure how it's going to work out yet. I still have to decide weather or not I want to do two separate Fics (this one and then a sequel) or make it all one.

ANYWHO! I might not update for a while because I have a huge test in Science class this week. No wait, not test, an _**exam**_. Seriously my science teacher won't even call it just a test, it's and _**exam**_, nothing less. Then again, back to updating I don't update all that often anyways so many might not even notice… Oh well.

(Again, ignored my ranting, and goodbye 'till next time.)


	10. Welcome to Suna!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but Shizuka is my own character.

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Chapter 9: Welcome to Suna

Shizuka made her way up to the Hokage's office with little to no interest. Her team hadn't had a single exciting mission for weeks, and there was no doubt that this would be yet another boring mission to add to the list. Naruto and Sasuke walked up behind her as she opened the door. Kakashi, surprisingly (look he's on time!), was already there and so was there client. The client was a man, no teenager, of about sixteen-seventeen years old, with shaggy dirty blond hair and green eyes.

"Alright, wake up you three!" Lady Tsunade yelled at the three half-asleep Genin. Shizuka and Sasuke looked instantly awoke by this but Naruto looked up with his eyes still half-closed. His head dropped back down, and he muttered half-heartedly. "Baa-chan… What was that for? It's too early for screaming…" Tsunade was fuming. "Baka! It's almost noon!"

"Well, you did tell us we didn't have any missions today, or tomorrow for that case so we all decided to sleep in and leave training for tomorrow." Shizuka stated. "Hn." Sasuke mumbled, also half-asleep. "Well wake up, I just got a whole pile of missions again and you're team is gonna be busy. Now you are to escort this man to Sunagakure and back. He has business to attend to in Suna that he has assured me that only one of you has to come too. But on the road you all have to be there, you'll be protecting him from anything that comes by." Tsunade explained. "Ok, who are you? And what exactly is anything that comes by?" Shizuka asked the client. "Names' Kaito, milady. I'm a poet, and writer. You'll be protecting me mostly from fans, but if a thief comes along you know." The older teen responded.

Sasuke stifled a laugh. "Can't handle his own fangirls eh?" He muttered quietly. "That's you talking, Uchiha! Ha, last time Ino and Sakura came around looking for you, you bolted behind the closest garbage can and cowered behind it!" Shizuka laughed, while Sasuke earned himself a glare from Tsunade.

Kaito looked embarrassed but he too laughed at Sasuke misfortune, even though he'd done things like that to avoid his fans before. Shizuka giggled at the look of shame on the Uchiha's face, grinning at the though of any chances to make fun of the boy. '_He's just too -laugh- easy to make fun of.'_ Shizuka though. Sasuke on the other hand wasn't impressed by Shizuka always telling the world that he wasn't always exactly the emotionless guy everyone though he was. He actually was scared of a few things, most namely his fan girls, especially Ino and Sakura. He looked at Shizuka; she was smiling at him almost to say that even he could find some way to laugh at that.

Shizuka frowned when Sasuke looked away; she'd almost hoped that he'd smile. Of course she'd try for the impossible; Sasuke and smiling weren't two words that went together. Instead he'd opted for his usual nothing face as Lady Tsunade explained the details of the mission to the Genin group.

"Fan Girls… seriously we have to protect this guy from fan girls? What kind of a mission is that?" Naruto sighed. "Shizuka-chan, I'm sure you can handle this one. I'm going back to bed." Shizuka watched as Naruto made his way to the door to leave. Turning to follow him she yawned and added. "Uchiha, you can deal with this. I'm sure even some one like you could handle something this easy." Sasuke looked up at her, Hn'd, and turned to Kakashi, standing in the corner of the room. "Kakashi-sensei, it's your problem." And with that Uchiha Sasuke turned to follow his teammates out of the door.

Easy to say, Lady Tsunade was not pleased. "Get back here, you idiots! You can't just leave like that, who do you think I am! I'm not just some old fart. I am the Hokage! You can't ignore my orders! Get back here! You -! !"

… … …

Naruto groaned, rubbing the huge bump on his head from Tsunade's fist. Shizuka and Sasuke dragged themselves off the ground in the Hokage's office, from where Tsunade had left them after dragging them back.

"You will be going on this mission weather you like it or not! Now go get packing, you'll be gone for the whole week. Now shoo!" Tsunade yelled at them. The three Genin slunk there way out of the room. Naruto sighed, said a quick see you later and then jumped of towards his apartment. Sasuke and Shizuka gave one look to each other and turned to walk down the street towards there homes together. Shizuka left Sasuke at his place, which was on the way, and made her way slowly to her little apartment.

Team seven met at Konoha's main gate half and hour later, with there bags packed and bored looks on there faces. Well, except Kakashi, who had his nose stuffed in that book again. Shizuka sighed, thinking of ways to burn the book just to see the look on Kakashi face to relieve the boredom as they made there way towards Sunagakure.

As they neared Sunagakure, Kakashi made a sign for the group to stop, looking around. Out of nowhere popped a group of three people not to far ahead of them. The Konoha team waited as they came up. They were greeted by the grinning face of Temari and Kankuro and their bored looking little brother. "Hey guys." Temari laughed. "Hey Temari! Kankuro! Gaara!" Naruto yelled typically. Shizuka and Sasuke flinched covering there ears.

"Hey… Wait a minute, where's Pinky?" Kankuro asked. Temari waked her brother over the head with her fan. "Her name is Sakura, you moron." Kankuro rubbed his head in pain. Gaara stood quietly while fending of a glare from the Uchiha, who still hated him for… understandable reasons. It was Kakashi who answered. "There's been a bit of switching with the teams. We acquired a new Genin on our team and Sakura was placed on a different team. This is Shizuka." He said, gesturing towards her. Shizuka noticed how he didn't say her last name in case they recognized it. She waved, but didn't say anything.

"Hello, Shizuka. I'm Temari, and this idiot here is my brother Kankuro, and the quiet one is our little brother Gaara." The older teen said smiling. "Hello, Temari, Kankuro, Gaara." Shizuka smiled. "Welcome, pipsqueak." Kankuro grinned. His grin instantly faded when he found Shizuka right up in his face. She had a flat look on her face, but the look in her eyes meant war. She held a single sharpened feather in her hand, just grazing his neck. "You were saying something about pipsqueak, make-up-boy…"

His scared face was enough to make her laugh. She walked back to her spot between Kakashi and Sasuke, grinning. "… … She's scarier then you…" Kankuro muttered looking at Gaara. His little brother chuckled, "Not possible." Shizuka laughed. "Oh, trust me, its very possible. Hello, you must be Gaara-san. It's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard loads about you."

Gaara looked towards. "That can't be a good thing." He muttered. "I've learned not to judge a book by it's cover, don't worry. I can't really judge much, three or so months ago I was a missing-nin would kill anybody who pissed me off. Seriously. I got no reason to base who people really are by there reputation." Shizuka laughed. "Shizuka, are you sure you want to be throwing around information like that?" Kakashi asked. "Nah, ain't gonna run into any Kumo-nin out here. We don't like the heat. As long as Raikage-sama doesn't know I'm alive I'm good."

"Whatever, let's get going. We're supposed to escort you guys to the village." Kankuro muttered.

Shizuka and Temari got along right away, and so, naturally being devious as they were, were planning a few pranks on some of the boys with Naruto's help. Temari wanted to get back at Kankuro for being such an idiot, and Shizuka and Naruto of course just couldn't give up a chance to embarrass the great Uchiha Sasuke again.

Naruto came up with the idea of dumping a bucket of paint on Sasuke's head to change the color of his hair. Shizuka agreed offering to fetch as much bright pink paint as possible, and the long lasting kind so that once they got back to Konoha everyone would mistake him for Sakura. Temari though up the idea to use one of Kankuro's puppets to do the dirty work so that Sasuke would get mad at Kankuro and not them.

"Hehe, this is great!" Shizuka giggled diabolically. "How are we going to get a hold of one of Kankuro's puppets though? Not to mention use it. I have no idea how to control them." Temari suddenly thought. "No problem. Naruto can go up and ask him to show off some of his moves with the puppets, I'm sure he can think up some stupid excuse that Kankuro will fall for. I'll hide somewhere close and copy the jutsu used to control them. Then when he's gone back to not paying attention, Temari you can run in and steal one, then meet up with me where I'm going to be readying the paint. Naruto will be with Kankuro so that he's somewhere close. He has to be close to control his puppets so if we want to make this believable he can't be on the other side of the village." She laughed.

"Copy it? How? You can't just learn a jutsu like that that quick." Temari looked confused. Shizuka grinned even wider. "Perks of the Sharingan." Temari looked shocked. "But that means… You're related to Sasuke!"

"Distantly, yes." Suddenly Naruto bored complaining reached our ears. "Shizuka-chan, Temari-chan, can we just go? I'm bored!" Shizuka scoffed. "Hmph, fine. Let's go, Baka, Temari-san."

And so they did.

Naruto being the idiot he was just had to challenge Kankuro to a fight, instead of just asking him about his puppet jutsu. Shizuka and Temari bored sat watching the fight from a distance as Shizuka copied down the jutsu with her Sharingan. When they were finally done, and Kankuro had abandoned his puppet to the side to head to the bathroom. Temari bolted up and stole one. She met up with Shizuka a block away where Sasuke was just coming out of a weapon shop.

Grinning, Shizuka stood in an alley way just a few steps from where Kankuro was so obliviously standing, talking to Naruto. She dragged up the ugly puppet and using the jutsu, picked up a large bucket of pink hair dye and lifting it through the air and dumping it flat on Sasuke's head. The bucket flopped down on to the pavement, slipping of Sasuke's head. Shizuka only gave him a few seconds to recognize the puppet and see which direction the chakra strings had been coming from before calling of the jutsu and leaving the puppet a few feet away from Kankuro, who conveniently happened to be laughing at something Naruto said at that moment.

As Sasuke began to scream at the puppet master, Naruto slunk away before the Uchiha noticed him, gave Shizuka a high five and ran for it. She ran not far behind hoping that she hadn't been noticed. She could hear Sasuke's screams behind her and Kankuro's claims that it wasn't him. "I'm going to kill you!" Shizuka laughed. "It wasn't me I promise! Ahh! Temari-nee-chan help!" At that Shizuka couldn't help bursting out laughing as she walked up towards Kakashi.

Somehow Naruto had once again convinced him to pay for dinner for the four of them. The look on Kakashi's face when Sasuke walked up fifteen minutes later was absolutely priceless. Even behind his mask you could see the mixture of shock and laughter on his face. "Sasuke?" He asked. Sasuke was just about to nod when Naruto came bolting up. Naruto took a half glance at Sasuke, winked at Shizuka, and spun his head back to Sasuke. "EH? When did you get here Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled. It took all of Kakashi and Shizuka's strength to pull him off Naruto for calling him Sakura. Once Sasuke had calmed down, at least a little, Shizuka let go grinned and gave Naruto a high five. Sasuke glared at them as they laughed. "Don't worry Sasuke-chan! I think it looks cute, though it baffles me as to why you'd die your hair pink." Shizuka told him. "I didn't die it you moron. Kankuro use his puppet to dump a bucket of pink paint on my head." Ha glared at her almost as if he knew that it had secretly been her. "I wouldn't be laughing Kurotori, if it wasn't Kankuro controlling that puppet, my next suspect is you." She immediately shut up. "How could I possibly do that? I don't know how to control puppets. Why would I anyway?" He smirked. "Sharingan could easily copy it and I know that Kakashi's not that immature, so that leaves you."

Kakashi sighed. "All right, all right, calm this down. Let's go. Since I'm getting force to pay for dinner I get to chose the restaurant."

The next day in Suna was eventful to say the least. Sasuke and Kankuro quickly found themselves lined up for a day of getting hit by pranks. The trio of pranksters were found out by the end of the day, but of course it was all worth it. Sasuke had bright pink hair, Kankuro's two puppets had been over in girly make up and silly string, they'd even managed to burn one of Kakashi's copies of Icha Icha Paradise. Hell, with all that even Gaara had laughed. Kankuro had been so shocked at this that he'd completely forgotten about the silly string.

Kakashi's complaints had never ended after they burned his book, while Sasuke preferred to plot revenge on his two team members silently. That is in till they approached Konoha three days later. They got a few meters into town when they were stopped by Kiba. "Hey, Shizuka, Naruto, Sakura, have you seen Hinata?" He yelled. Sasuke instantly went on a huge rant at being called Sakura… again. Kiba didn't find Hinata that day, Naruto didn't get to go to Ichiraku's and Shizuka didn't get to hang out with Kura. Sasuke instead chased the three around the village for the rest of the day, yelling his head off.

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An: And that's the end of the funny stuff for now… pout, I kind of liked it.

Ah, well I prefer writing serious stuff anyway, but it was fun while it lasted. There might be a bit more funny stuff in the future of this story but I'm not sure. For now though, I going to revel in the glory of calling The "Great Uchiha Sasuke" Sakura. :D


	11. The Phoenix Scroll

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but Shizuka is my own character.

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Chapter ten: The Phoenix scroll

"You called, Lady Tsunade?" Shizuka mumbled as she walked into the Hokage's office. She noted in her head how Sasuke was the only other person there. "Yes. I've got a mission for you two." The fifth Hokage said. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, while Shizuka's face soured. "Just us? Where's Naruto? I know that Kakashi-sensei's on a mission but…" Tsunade sighed. "Naruto left with Jiraiya for a few days for training early this morning. It's just you two. I know your teamwork is a bit lacking, but Shizuka this is your area of expertise and Sasuke was the only one available that could go with you."

"My area of expertise? And why is Sasuke the only one who could come with me?" She asked. "I thought about sending you with one of the Chunin available but many of them don't know about your wings and you're going to need them. Your mission is a C-rank to the Land of Birds." Lady Tsunade finished. "So you called for me to go with Shizuka because I already know about her wings? Can't she go by herself?" Sasuke finally cut in with an emotionless look on his face as usual. "No. You're going with her and you two will co-operate weather you like it or not." Tsunade told them. "Here's your map and a bit more information on your mission. You leave in an hour, now get going."

A day and a half later, when they reached the small village that had requested their help in the Land of Birds, Shizuka's through felt dry and sore from not being used. Her and Sasuke had barely spoken. Only when they needed to decide who would take first watch at night, not that that was even a big deal considering there was only two of them. The villagers greeted the two ninja with pure happiness. A few were already thanking them, though they hadn't done anything yet. One of them told them that the leader of the village had been the one to send for them and where he would be. Shizuka thanked him and continued on.

"Sasuke…" She whispered. He turned his head. She nodded toward the biggest house in the village where the leader lived. He followed her silently. She looked down. He'd been like this the whole way here, completely silent.

Normally, Sasuke would at least answer her with "hn." Or something, but there was no reaction other then turning his head now. His eyes seemed to be colder. There was obviously something on his mind, but Shizuka just couldn't think of a way to get him to talk about it without bugging him too much.

She sighed, leaving her little inner battle for later and knocked on the door. The leader welcomed them with a smile. He lead them to a room which was obviously his office to tell them the details of their mission. A beautiful grand eagle stood proudly on the window sill with a letter strapped to one foot and pale orange ribbon tied to the other, claiming that he was a messenger. Shizuka smiled fondly and rushed over to the large bird. The eagle could have easily been almost double Kura's size but moved with the same grace. "Mi-Milady Kurotori! Welcome." He said, bowing his beak low. Shizuka smiled and place a hand on his head. "Thank you, now please stand on back up. Let's get that package of your leg shall we? It can't be very comfortable." She laughed. She untied the letter gently and lifted it from his foot. "Here this is yours I believe, Takeo-san." She said, handing the letter over to the village leader. The man nodded and took the letter. He sat down at his desk, and gestured for them to sit in the two chairs opposite him. "I must ask, before we speak about the mission. Does your village have any link to Kumogakure?" She asked. "Why, might I ask? It doesn't seem to have anything to do with this." Takeo said. "Actually it has to do with everything." She answered simply. He shook his head. "No, we refused to have any contact with the Raikage since the massacre of the Kurotori clan." Shizuka smiled. "Good, it's nice to know that there are still some who would lay still with my clan and oppose that village as we did. I am Kurotori Shizuka, and this is my teammate Uchiha Sasuke."

Takeo looked surprised. "Hm… Kurotori and Uchiha on one team, that's interesting." He mumbled. "And neither of us can even begin to comprehend what Lady Hokage was thinking. We don't get along very well." Shizuka laughed. Sasuke cleared his throat. "The mission?" He grumbled. "Right, of course."

"Your mission is to retrieve a sacred scroll that was stolen from the shrine on the northern most mountain just behind us. It's a scroll that has been passed down threw generations of the monks in the temple there and is very valuable. It was stolen late last night by a band of thieves. There known to have at least one Chunin level rogue-ninja in there group so I'd advise caution, should you have to confront them. Reports on the borders have told us that they haven't yet left the area but most likely will by nightfall, so the faster you find them the better. Please if you do not have to fight them, then don't. They may have a Jounin among them." Takeo explained. Shizuka scoffed. "Jounin-shmounin. It's not a big deal what rank they are." Sasuke nodded, for once agreeing with her. Takeo looked uneasy at the idea of a couple of young Genins taking down a Jounin. "Alright. If you want any more information on the thugs, then the head monk at the temple may know more."

The two Genin nodded and left. The simultaneously decided that they wanted to speak with the head monk first. Sasuke continued to walk beside her without a word. Shizuka felt like she should say something, anything to break the silence. It was awkward. She sighed, and stopped walking half-way up the stairs that led to the temple. Sasuke took a couple steps ahead before stopping to look down at her. He still didn't say a word, not even to ask why she had stopped. "Sasuke… Is there something wrong? You're talking even less then usual." She mumbled. His blank obsidian eyes showed no emotion. It shocked her when he did not deny that something was wrong. His mouth open on a fraction as he muttered one word before turning and continuing up the stairs. "Tomorrow."

She paused. To them today, tomorrow held not the same meaning as it held to other. It did not mean that he would tell her tomorrow. It was an explanation in itself. It hit her like a rock. Tomorrow. Tomorrow was the anniversary of the Uchiha massacre. She couldn't believe that she'd forgotten.

Shizuka dragged her way back to Sasuke's side. She grabbed his hand to get him to stop. He didn't even try to shake her off as she held his hand. "I know that you don't want my pity, but I'm sorry anyways." And with that she let go and kept walking, sad for having picked up the subject in the first place. Sasuke didn't say a word, and the subject was left alone.

The head monk at the temple met with the pair of Shinobi outside. He welcomed them and explained more in detail. "The scroll that you are here to find is known as the Phoenix scroll. It allows us to speak with the guarding spirit of this area, so you can understand just how important this mission is to those who live here. The spirit decides what happens to this area so well you can imagine. The men who stole it are believe to be mostly samurai, but there have been rumors that a few Chunin, maybe even a Jounin level ninja are leading them. Take caution should you have to face them. It would be preferable to avoid fighting, I understand that both of you two have fire chakra, am I right? It would be sad to all of us should any trees be burned down."

Shizuka nodded. "Should we even need to fight, we would attempt to hold back the use of Katon jutsu. But how did you know that we both use Fire-style?" He laughed. "They send two Sharingan users into my midst and expect me not to know that they like to play with fire." Shizuka stiffened and covered her left eye. She had not used her Byaringan, not even turned it on to give him a hint that she had it. "H-how did you know?" The monk chuckled. "You look much like your mother, Lady Kurotori." And without a better explanation he turned and walked back into the temple.

Shizuka and Sasuke stood there for a moment in silence. "We should start looking for the scroll." Sasuke said turning to leave. "No need to waste our energy looking ourselves." Shizuka told him. Her wings spread gently behind her as she bent down to the ground. She bit her thumb just enough to draw blood and brought her hand down to the ground. After drawing a quick symbol on the rough ground, which Sasuke didn't see, she slammed her hand onto it and said. "Summoning jutsu."

In the time it took him to blink she was standing up with her wings spread. On her shoulder sat a raven the size of an eagle. It pure black feathers were smooth reflecting a whole rainbow of colors in the sun. On the branches of the tree just in front stood another seven ravens, some normal size some a bit big but not nearly as much as there leader. For a second Sasuke took a step back and emotion danced across his face. Shizuka could summon ravens, just like his bastard of a brother Itachi.

Shizuka looked back towards the group of raven summons in the tree before her, and nodded. She'd explained to them what they must do. They were to find the scroll and report back immediately. Once they found it Sasuke and her could go and get it back. The leader let out a great croak and took off into the skies. His team followed shortly after. They did one circle above her head before splitting up to find the scroll.

Shizuka turned back to Sasuke slowly, folding her wings back gently, hiding them away again. Sasuke's expression shocked her, causing her to take a step back. He was glaring. It wasn't a death glare or anything, but more like a confused shocked glare. It didn't take long for her to piece it together. Ravens, Itachi, ravens… Itachi… Her. It was a spinning cycle in her head. Itachi was one of the last people who could summon ravens too. He was the only one outside of her clan who could, the only other had been the man he killed for the Mangekyou Sharingan, Shisui Uchiha. She knew that, her father had been the guardian of the ravens contract, but she'd forgotten.

She looked down at the ground not wanting to face his eyes, and lied. "Itachi stole the contract from my clan when I was young, we got it back but only after he'd already made an agreement with the ravens."

Sasuke nodded. "What now?" He mumbled. "We wait. It won't be too long." Shizuka said sitting down on the top step of the temple.

It was only about twenty minutes later that one of her ravens came back. Shizuka and Sasuke set out just as the sun began to fall in the sky. It took them less then ten minutes to find the thieves. They were sitting around the camp that they'd obviously just finished putting up, dragging out crates of sake and sitting around a fire. With a quick look Shizuka deducted that all the ones out of the tents were samurai. It didn't take her long to point out anyone else. She turned back to Sasuke. "There are nine samurai outside of the tents, three inside, and one ninja. High chakra level, a Jonin. He's in the biggest tent, with the scroll."

Sasuke nodded. "Then lets go." He said immediately wanting to go and fight. Shizuka could tell he was in a bad mood and just wanted to take his anger out on something. She felt bad for the samurai. She held an arm in front of Sasuke. "No, we'll wait. They're guzzling down that sake like pigs. In ten minutes they'll be drunk if not unconscious. I leave you to deal with the samurai, it won't take long. Make as much noise as possible then hide. When the jonin comes out to see what's going on I'll sneak past him and grab the scroll. With any luck we won't have to fight him."

"We can take one jonin." Sasuke smirked. "Sasuke, just because neither of us are scared of facing a jonin, doesn't mean it's a good idea. Look is it doesn't work out, then we fight. But it's best to avoid a fight when its not necessary." She said. Sasuke gave her a weird look. "What? Being a missing nin for three and a half years teaches you a lot about survival. You can trust that this Jonin won't be a pampered one, and he certainly won't fight fair."

By the time there little plan was over, the samurai were plenty drunk enough, but the ninja hadn't come out at all, just as planned. Sasuke dropped down to the ground silently, and ran strait into the middle of their camp. Least to say that his loud Chidori easily caused panic amongst those that weren't quite completely drunk yet. The sound of a thousand birds filled the area, loud and clear. The Jonin in the tent did not waste any time coming out to see what was up. Nor did Sasuke waste any time hiding before he noticed him.

Shizuka made not a single pin drop worth of noise as she snuck behind the Jonin's back. Not even a highly trained ninja should have been able to sense the wind made by her movements. Years worth of training on the silent killing technique were on her side. It should have been enough. It wasn't enough.

She hadn't calculated where this ninja was from. But now, when she was painstakingly close, it was hard not to see it. Kirigakure was the originator of the silent killing technique. It was only natural that one of it's Shinobi would be able to sniff it out.

The Kiri-jonin made no move for a second, but by the next he had turned on her. His hand flashed forward, her Sharingan eye following its movement. In half an instant, it was wrapped around her neck. She could sense Sasuke tense behind them. He didn't move, none of them did.

The Jonin looked out at his fallen troops. There was no blood, they were all just knocked out. The girl was clean. He turned his grim face back to her. "Where did your little friend go? You're not here alone." He asked in a feral voice. Shizuka smiled, a fox-like grin. "What ever makes you think that? Is it so wrong for me to be alone? I'm a kunoichi, I can handle myself after all." She laughed. Her laughter was brutally cut of by the tightening of his hand on her neck. She gasped, staring up defiant into the enemies eyes, praying that Sasuke wouldn't do anything stupid.

"You're a Konoha genin, your sensei must be close. He wouldn't have abandoned you." Shizuka smirked again. "Contrary to popular belief, my sensei isn't here. I came alone, for the sake of my friends in the land of birds." The man looked down at her, and chuckled. "Then no one will know if I kill you." His hand tightened brutally on her neck, cutting off any air.

His attention was so solely focused on her that he didn't notice as Sasuke dropped down behind him, kunai in hand. A kunai in which quickly found itself being raked across the neck of the mist nin. A thin line of blood began streaming down his neck as he fell to the ground.

Shizuka watched as blood started to pool at their feet and didn't even blink as she watched the color fade in the lifeless eyes of the Jonin. Sasuke had killed someone to save her without the slightest bit of hesitation and somehow she couldn't come to terms with weather that was a good thing or a bad thing. He had killed, possibly one of his first kills ever, without hesitation. To a ninja, to do so was a skill to be learned. To someone with a complicated past, such a skill could turn them into a monster.

At the spark she saw in his eyes, she prayed that he would never fall. She prayed that he fought it.

Sasuke walked over to the tent, and came out carrying the stolen scroll. "Let's go." He told to her still form. She was still crouched down, eyes surveying the body before her. She nodded, standing up. Sasuke turned to leave. "Wait." She whispered, not knowing if he would hear. He stopped and turned. She dug around in her back pocket before she found a copy of the bingo book. She pulled it out flipping to the page with the dead jonin's info on it. He was worth a reward from the Mizukage.

She'd send a message to the mist village, and leave the body in the village here so that they could have the money. She didn't need it. She sighed as she sealed the Jonin's body into a scroll, before turning to follow Sasuke back.

-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-

An: Hmmm. Interesting chapter…


	12. Akatsuki's appearance

An: The ever waited appearance of THE AKATSUKI… ok that was a little dynamic…

*Gai suddenly pops up*

Gai: Dynamic Entry!

Me: Disclaimer…

Gai: Mimm does not own Naruto! YOSH!

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Chapter eleven: Akatsuki's appearance.

Shizuka streached, sighing as they walked down the street that led to the small town that they would pass by on their way back to Konoha. Sasuke walked beside her silently. She smiled. They were on the way back to the village from the land of birds on their mission. Sasuke was a bit more talkative, though not really enough for a decent conversation to ease her boredom, but enough to distract her from her thoughts. Either way, she was happy to be making her way home now. And Konoha really had become her home. Little did she know that she wouldn't make it home tonight.

As they passed through the small town, Shizuka was surprised to hear a familiar voice. "IIE! Ero-Sennin, give me Gama back!" She laughed when she saw a typically orange clad Naruto jumping to try and get his frog shaped wallet out of a certain perverted Sanin's hand. Naruto didn't stand a chance, he was typically short but when compared to how tall Jiraiya of the Sanin was, well, he's a midget.

Her orange-clad teammate looked up when he heard her laughter. He waved, chuckling with a grin on his face. "Hey, Shizuka-chan, Teme!" When he looked back to Jiraiya, his wallet was no where to be seen. His eyes widened. "Nani? Ero-sennin! Give me back Gama!" He yelled at the Sanin, who rolled his eyes. Shizuka giggled. "These two are your teammates aren't they, Naruto? I don't believe that I've been properly introduced." Jiraiya looked down at his student, who was still glaring at him. "Right, this is Shizuka-chan, and Sasuke-teme." Naruto said pointing at the two.

Jiraiya smirked. "Hm. Why don't you two join us? We were just going for snacks before some training. Naruto's paying." He laughed, brandishing the boy's wallet just out of his grasp. "In fact, why don't you two stick around for a while? I'm curious how Naruto's team works, and I'm sure Tsunade wouldn't mind if I hijacked a couple of her Genin for another day or two." Shizuka looked towards Sasuke, who shrugged. "Sure, sounds like fun." She said.

The laughter only continued as Naruto used the distraction to grab his wallet back from Jiraiya. It only got worse when Naruto gloated and got it stolen again. His sensei walked smirking the whole time, down the road towards a small shop.

The next morning, Jiraiya dragged the three sleep-logged Genin out to an empty field on the outskirts of the small town after he sent a letter to Tsunade explaining where her Genin where. He sent them strait into a spar. The three of them versus him. Shizuka and Sasuke were already counting their victories. Jiraiya may be a Sanin, but they could already tell that he was going to gravely underestimate them. Naruto laughed. "You sure that you want to take on all three of us at once, Ero-sennin?" The man chuckled. "Have you no faith in me, Naruto? I'm a Sanin, three Genin aren't going to be much of an issue."

Sasuke smirked. "Hn. You'll probably regret saying that." Shizuka laughed. "We're a bit of a handful." Jiraiya scoffed as he started the fight. It was easy to say that Jiraiya had severely underestimated them.

Granted that the rookie Genin team didn't win, Jiraiya was in fact panting at his need to actually use a few of his good jutsu. "You forgot that I've taken down Kakashi my fare few times, didn't you?" Shizuka smirked.

After everyone had caught their breath again, Jiraiya sent Shizuka and Sasuke to spar for a while so that he could help Naruto with some jutsu. He then left with Naruto for the other end of the field so that everyone would have enough space. The two dark-haired Genin looked over at each other and silently decided to work on Taijutsu first. Sasuke worked to avoid Shizuka's quick gentle fist style blows. She put no chakra into the blows, so none of his tenketsu closed, but he still found himself getting hit.

Shortly after, a loud raven's croak sounded from a tree that stood close by. Shizuka's head instantly bounded up at the voice. Motioning for Sasuke to stop for a minute she turned towards the bird. It stared her down with gleaming red eyes. "Oh, come on! Right now!" She growled at it. It croaked once more before turning itself around to face the other direction on the low branch of the tree.

Shizuka shook her head and looked back at Sasuke, who stood with a confused look on his face. "Sasuke, why don't you go over to spar with Naruto or something for a bit? Apparently, this is something important. It could take a while and I wouldn't want you to have to wait." She said sending a glare at the back of the bird's head. Sasuke shrugged, and leaned back against a tree opposite to the one where the bird sat. Shizuka nodded before running of to face the bird.

The raven stood tall and stiff on the branch before her. "Ita-" Shizuka cut herself of, with a glance towards Sasuke. "Speak in birds tongue, Shizuka. He won't be able to understand it." The raven muttered. She nodded, knowing that to Sasuke it would sound like nothing but a bunch of chirps and caws.

- - - (Sasuke's POV) - - -

Sasuke sighed in annoyance when Shizuka ran off to speak with the raven. Sure he didn't mind waiting for a bit, but how long wound that be? He didn't really feel like going over to Naruto and Jiraiya though. He shrugged and sat down, watching Shizuka and the curious raven. It took him a minute to distinguish that she wasn't speaking any tongue known to humans. Chirps and caws came from her mouth like any normal speech.

He raised an eyebrow. Why would she speak now like that? Any time he'd every seen her speak with a bird it had been in normal language. Was she worried about people eavesdropping? Was she keeping something from him? He shook his head. She had all right to keep secrets, but with the way she seemed to know everything about him it bothered him.

He was still thinking about it when Shizuka's voice raised into a yell, a normal yell. "Are you insane? You want me to divert his attention! And what have him blame it on me that he missed his chance! I'm having a hard enough time staying on his good side! No way in hell am I interfering, Uch-" Again, she cut herself off mid sentence. The raven croaked loudly at her, no doubt sending her a glare. Sasuke couldn't see its eyes, but he could see hers. She looked guilty, and he could faintly hear her saying sorry over and over. She sighed. "How soon?" She muttered. The raven cawed an answer. "Alright. See you soon then." Sasuke watched as Shizuka looked down at the ground, not even batting an eye as the bird took off and flew out of view.

Her single teal eye turned up as she watch Sasuke stand. "We were sparring." He murmured. She nodded an got back into a ready stance.

After a few hours, Shizuka suggested that the pair of Genin head back over to Jiraiya and Naruto's direction, mumbling that it was almost time for dinner. They'd paused their training a not long back for a light lunch, but both were already hungry. The sun was just barely beginning to set on the horizon, where everything was starting to take an slight orange glow.

Sasuke followed behind Shizuka without a word as they came up to were Jiraiya and Naruto sat, empty popsicle sticks daggling from their mouths. He almost could have laughed when Naruto jumped up and almost started chocking on his when he saw them. He would have, if he had been anyone else. He thoughts veered when he realize that Shizuka wasn't giggling like she normally would. He turned to looked at his dark-haired teammate.

Her eyes had drifted towards the setting sun. He could tell that she was distracted; she had been ever since the raven came to speak with her. She shifted her weigh a bit, twiddling the fingers of her right hand. The bandage on her arm scratched against each other. Without a word, she lifted her enormous midnight black wing and stretched them out as far as they would go. Her wings pulled tight, the skin over them curling over the thick muscle tightly. Her feathers sharped and dulled, as if she was checking to see if they till could. Her wingspan was almost twice her high when she stretched like this, Sasuke noted. He mentally pinched himself for analyzing every detail like this; she was just his teammate, he didn't need to worry. But her unease left him worried.

Shizuka eyes never veered of the sunset, not even noticing his stare. The Uchiha watched as her huge wings lifted and swooshed down. In a single powerful stroke she was in the air. It only took her three to reach the very top a nearby tree, a tall nearby tree. She surveyed the area like a hawk, standing on the tip of the tree with her wings spread. Then it hit him. Something was going to happen, and she knew it. Something bad, and she wasn't saying a word.

"We should head back to the village. With Naruto's eagerness, I would say that that popsicle was the only thing you two ate all day." She laughed, but Sasuke could tell that it was fake. She ushered them forward. Naruto grinned and rushed to the front, Jiraiya right behind him, chuckling. Shizuka didn't move, letting Sasuke go first. He took a few steps before noticing that Shizuka wasn't following him. He turned. She stood still watching the forest behind them. Her wings ruffled, a warning. Sasuke could have sworn he saw the flash of fabric in the trees. Shizuka turned to him.

"Come on, we're falling behind!" She yelled, laughing, as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward to run after Naruto, who was quite a bit up the path already. She folded her wings back within her body, still laughing a fake laugh when they caught up.

Seconds later, a form flashed between them, brandishing a sword bigger then them. Carrying it, stood a man easily the size of Shizuka and Naruto put together. Cold laughter drew from the man's mouth as he swung his sword towards them, knowing that he would miss. His blue tanned face set in a scowl as he took a step back. "Kisame… We're not here to kill them so stop swinging that thing around carelessly." A deep cold voice drawled from behind them. A chuckle drifted from the shadows.

Sasuke spun hard. He watched, his Sharingan eyes spinning madly in rage, as his brother stepped out from the trees calmly not even giving him a glance. Something clicked in his head. Shizuka had known, known that his brother was going to attack them an still didn't say a word. His eyes widened. The raven. The raven had been Itachi and he hadn't noticed. It made sense now, the two times Shizuka had cut herself off. '_Ita-' 'Uch-'. _Itachi Uchiha.

Itachi stood perfectly still, taking in the sight before him. His little brother, Kurotori Shizuka, the Kyuubi's vessel Naruto, and Jiriaya of the Sanin. He chuckled darkly. This could prove to be quite the fight. He gave Kisame a small look, he knew exactly what to do. The shark-man grinned, flashing sharp teeth as he swung his sword towards Jiraiya.

Itachi looked back to the Genin team, surprised that not one of them showed any sign of fear. He watched with boredom, not moving an inch as his pitiful little brother leaned to take a step forward. Sasuke's sharingan eyes blared as an arm reached out in front of him.

"Let me handle this." Shizuka quietly told them. "No. This is my fight." Sasuke growled trying to take a step. She pushed him back and looked in to his eyes. "You're not ready." She said, forcefully, completely blank. The cold look in her eyes would have made him shiver on any other day, but fire burned in his blood at this time. He was angry.

"You don't have any right to tell me what to do. Maybe had you said something I would have listened to you but not now. You knew this was going to happen and you didn't say a word!" He yelled. Shizuka looked at the ground, and Naruto gasped. "You knew?" Jiraiya swore, blocking Samehada with a grunt as he fought Kisame. Sasuke took this chance to push past Shizuka. She was so easily distracted sometimes. He only caught flashes while he fought Itachi. He knew only three things; he needed drastically to be stronger, Itachi was holding back a lot, and the only reason Naruto wasn't jumping into the fray was because Shizuka was holding him back. He was already tiring and Itachi wasn't even trying.

- - -(Shizuka's POV)- - -

Shortly after Sasuke pushing his way past her, the Genins and Jiraiya soon found themselves lined back up, facing Itachi and Kisame. The three boys stood to her left all glaring without words at the two Akatsuki members. Shizuka watched painfully as Sasuke took another run at his older brother.

They're was little emotion in Itachi's eyes, never betraying him of anything. She watch as they fought. Sasuke's blows were flailing in anger, while Itachi was holding back most of his strength. She could see it in his eyes that he didn't want to fight Sasuke, but it wasn't in till she saw a gleam in his changing eyes that she worried.

'_He… No, he wouldn't dare use tat move against Sasuke.'_ She thought but spiraling form of his Sharingan told her differently. No thoughts crossed her mind as she spun her way between the two fighters. Sasuke fell back, by the force of her heavy wings hitting his side. Her wings stretch as far as they would go, completely obstructing the other Konoha shinobi's view of her. Her left hand went up, holding her bangs away from her eyes. Their was a flash of ice blue chakra blasting from her right arm, burning through the bandages, and then the sound of whispers. "Mangekyou Sharingan, Tsukuyomi!"

Shizuka stared strait into Itachi's eyes, and chuckled. "My, my, that's not a very nice thing to do to your poor baby brother… Ita-chan." She laughed, grinning a feral grin.

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An: Ohh! Cliff-hanger… sorry.


	13. To me

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

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Chapter twelve: To me…

"I thought that you weren't going to step in, Shizuka." Itachi said coldly, his Sharingan disappearing completely to reveal flat black eyes. "You know me, I just can't help… making things complicated." She chuckled, turning then towards Kisame, as the pale blue light faded from around her arm.

"Hey Bubbles-nii-san!" She yelled, giggling as she clung onto his arm. He lifted his arm above his head, her dangling on it, so that she was at his eye level. "How you doing, pip squeak?" The fish-man smiled. "Good, I really like it in Konoha! How's everybody?" Her words were sped up, like an exited small child, as she dangled from Kisame's arm. "We're doing good kid. Deidara got himself in trouble again, but he's fine, and Konan misses you a lot; its gotta' suck being the only girl, without you around."

Naruto chose that moment to intervene. "Wait, wait, wait, wait. You know these guys, Shizuka-chan? But they're the bad guys! And what was with that weird glow from you're arm." He took a step towards her, to where she stood between the two Akatsuki. Jiraiya's arm instantly flashed out, catching Naruto by the back of his jacket. "Don't go near them, Naruto. It's you that they want to capture, you know that." He mumbled, never taking his eyes of the three in front if him. "But, what about Shizuka-chan? What if they hurt her?" The blond yelled.

"Isn't it obvious, dobe? She's with them… and against us." Sasuke hadn't spoken in till that, and he looked as if he would say no more. He sent Shizuka a cold glare, void completely of emotion. She flinched. He hated her now; she'd shown just which side she was on now.

She kept her calm façade as hard as she could, but a glimpse of sadness filled in her eyes. "Sasuke…" She mumbled. "I will not deny that I know your brother, but I do not work for Akatsuki. I am friends with many there but I will not fight you. Konoha is my home, and you are my team, I have no wish to betray you."

At first not a single word was heard, the tension in the air growing thicker as the seconds ticked by. "You already did." The words slipped out of Sasuke's mouth effortlessly, and struck deep in turn.

Shizuka looked down, staring at the circular making on her right palm as she fought back the tears that threatened to spill. A cold air swept over her body as she lifted her head. Her arms shivered, emitting a pale blue glow. The demon sealed within her hand was acting up, without anything but a weak seal to hold it. The bandages had burnt through, making ashes of the extra seals that were painted on them.

Her single teal colored eye met Sasuke red Sharingan. Anger filled them so purely it shook her to her bones. She'd had no right to intrude into the brothers' fight, but she couldn't stop herself. She had known that she couldn't let Sasuke be hit by the Itachi's Tsukuyomi. She refused to let him feel that pain again. She had betrayed him, by helping him.

"I'm sorry. That was never my intention." She whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear.

- - -(Sasuke's POV)- - -

She was shivering, but not because she was cold. There was fear in her eyes, she was terrified. Sasuke could tell that she was on the brink of becoming the animal she had become on their first mission. Her emotions were raging, fear, sadness, and yet some happiness shone through for some reason. She was inches from transforming into a beast, yet he only stood there forcing himself not to care. He could not deny his desire to help her, despite her betrayal. He was fighting with himself not to walk over to her and stroke her wings again to calm her down. His hand twitched, imagining the soft bed of feathers under his palm.

His thoughts were spiraling, and he knew only one thing surely. It would be a long time before he forgave her, if at all. His mind was contradicting itself so completely he didn't understand much else. He still both cared for, though he didn't want to admit it, and hated her.

He forced himself to glare at the group across from him, it wasn't too hard, one of them was his devil of a brother.

He listened carefully for any movements made. Jiraiya was to busy holding back Naruto, who refused to believe that Shizuka worked for the Akatsuki. Naruto was grumbling and yelling, but immediately shut up when Itachi spoke.

"Shizuka, we should leave. Are you coming with us?" He said. Sasuke watched their every move. Shizuka shook her head. "No… I have to stay. I can't keep running away. Say hello to everyone for me." She whispered. "It's not safe for you to stay, pip squeak. They think that you're one of us." Kisame said. "I'll be fine, now get going, quickly. I'll make sure that you're not followed. Tell Pein that it's my fault you screwed up. He can't get mad at you for that." She told them and the Akatsuki pair left at speeds to fast for normal eyes to follow.

Sasuke stood completely still as his teammate, no, as Shizuka, took a step forward with her head down. She didn't even spare him a glance as she walked past him. She stood, all confidence faded from her face, in front of Jiraiya.

The Sanin was acting the most serious Sasuke had ever seen him, with a glare. "Jiraiya-sama, bring me back to Konoha and send me to the torture and interrogations department if you wish. You can question me on everything, but little I will tell you, and nothing shall be said before Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, for their own sake as well as mine." Shizuka asked him in a whisper like tone. "I will only agree if you tell us who you really are, right now." Jiraiya demanded coldly. "I should kill you now, but Tsunade would be unhappy if I killed one of her kunoichi without proper trial." He said.

Shizuka sighed and returned her gaze to the ground as she stood facing the three Shinobi. Slowly, she lifted her right arm, baring her palm. Printed on the soft palm of her hand was a circular seal burned in black ink. It was in the shape of a coiling, wingless, snake-like dragon, surrounded by black markings that kept it there.

"I will not tell you stories that are not mine to tell. I cannot tell you more then you already know. I am Kurotori Shizuka, daughter of Uchiha Tenshi and Kurotori Hayato, and Jinchuriki of one of the twin dragon demons. I can tell you no more." She spoke in her quiet voice. Quiet it might have been, but gentle it was not, there was force behind her words, she would say no more.

"Fine, be secretive, Ibiki will get it all out of you anyways." Jiraiya scoffed, pushing her forward in the direction of the inn they would stay at for the night. Shizuka chuckled, and said in a firm tone. "Morino Ibiki and Yamanaka Inoichi don't stand a chance."* She laughed turning and walking ahead of them to the inn.

Jiraiya fumed at that and demanded that she tell him who she really was. Sasuke sighed, finding it very obvious that she wasn't going to say anything. He almost growled at her secrecy. He wanted to know why she knew his brother. He wanted to know why she was here. She'd never denied working for the Akatsuki.

For some reason, something deep in his mind was stuck on memories of Shizuka and Naruto laughing at his sides, of her face lying in the grass with her eyes closed, and of the clanging of bells that resonated when she'd snatched the twin bells from Kakashi's belt with little effort. He didn't understand when his mind flashed back to the time that they'd almost kissed, or the night that she'd told him that he wasn't alone. He couldn't comprehend how a single tiny thought in his brain had appeared. He wasn't supposed to care. _'I guess we never really were friends then, if it was all a lie.' _

His brain seemed not to notice the time passing, he barely remembered anything that happened after that thought. He walked like a zombie to the inn. It wasn't in till over an hour later that he came back to reality. Shizuka was fast asleep, having said something about using too much chakra to fight off Itachi's Tsukuyomi. She was curled on the bed in a tight ball, clutching a pillow against her chest. Her wings were out, draping lightly over her body covering everything but her arms and her head.

He watched silently from his spot in a chair across the room as she twitched, letting out a light hiss. He saw Jiraiya standing at the edge of the bed. In the Sanin's hand was a bracelet that blocked chakra. He slowly raised an arm to try and slip it around Shizuka's arm again. She noticed, even as she slept, before he even got close. A hiss left her teeth, and she brought her hand under the pillow, only to lie it back out again.

"Naruto, she knows you better, perhaps she won't react to you. You have to lift her arm up to slip it on." Jiraiya mumbled to his student. Naruto looked as if he visibly disapproved of treating his friend like this, but went along with it anyway snatching the bracelet out of the Sanin's hand. He pulled his arm towards Shizuka's and his fingers managed to brush against it, but then her wings twitched violently in rebellion and a hiss drew from her mouth. She looked very close to waking up and killing them all.

Naruto jumped back, with a terrified look on his face. Sasuke had almost forgotten that he'd never seen her act like that. To Naruto, she was just laughing childish Shizuka, never the animalistic girls she could be when she was scared. Sasuke barely noticed when Naruto walked up to him and held the bracelet out to him. He looked up into the blue eyes of his teammate. "Wanna try?" The blond asked in the most hushed tone Sasuke had ever heard him speak in.

He stood and walked over to Shizuka's side, not even bothering to grab the bracelet. Naruto followed them, still holding it. He bent down, lowering his hand onto her wing instead of her arm. She twitched a little, before shaking her wing lightly and relaxing again. He could tell that she knew it was him, even subconsciously. His hand drifted along her wing stroking as he had to calm her down. His other hand lifted to rest over her wrist. She didn't even seem to notice as he lifted her arm up.

Without a word, he clipped on the bracelet and stalked out of the room, leaving Naruto in shock that he, the cold Uchiha Sasuke, could be that gentle.

The way back to Konoha was silent, broken only by Naruto small outbursts. But even they didn't seem to be as frequent. As soon as they walked in to the Hokage's office, Jiraiya demanded that they leave. Naruto had complained, saying that he wanted to hear it when Shizuka denied all they're claims and proved them wrong. She was loyal and would never betray them. Sasuke knew in his heart and his head that that wasn't how it was, as much as he too wanted it to be. The two boys turned to leave, but stopped as soon as Tsunade spoke out. "Uchiha, stay here, you can wait outside. I want to have a word with you after this is done." He nodded, sitting down on a chair outside her office after Naruto left.

He strained his ears to hear what the two Sanin and the Genin inside spoke of but could only hear hushed whispers of faded words. He only caught flashes. "Why?" He heard Tsunade said. "I had no other choice. I would have been killed without they're help. Back then, I was weak, and could barely control any of my powers. There was little I could do if I wanted to know how to control my eyes. It was my only option if I were to learn to protect myself." Shizuka told her. "Why didn't you come here?" Tsunade held a scowl in her voice.

"With all due respect, Tusnade-sama, you see how Naruto is treated. I would not have survived and I could see that even before I met him." Shizuka said, before they returned to hushed tones that Sasuke couldn't hear.

It felt like hours before they left the Hokage's office. Shizuka was escorted out by a pair of Anbu, and Jiraiya was nowhere to be seen. Tsunade stood looking out at the ground below, out the window, where the Anbu escorted Shizuka towards a dark grey building a ways away. She sighed closing the window and gestured for Sasuke to come inside. He didn't say anything as he stood in front of her desk.

"Listen, Uchiha. If there's anything I know about Shizuka it's that she's stubborn. She'll get past interrogation, and I know that. There is someone however she can't get past." Tsunade said. He raised an eyebrow. "You can tell that she's regretting something. She won't say anything to me, but… to you, she'd explain everything. I don't care how you do it, but I need that information. You can think of it as a mission." She explained.

"You want me to talk to that traitor?" Sasuke said, surprised that no anger was reflected in the question. "Yes." He stared at her before nodding. "Fine." And he left.

The next night, as the sun was setting, Sasuke found himself sitting on the edge of the dock at the lake beside his house. He watched the ripples in the water when he poked its surface dully with his finger or his foot. His thoughts had been raging so much the past two days that now they seemed to have collapsed, unable to form solid thoughts or emotions.

His face was bland, he was enjoying the quiet of this area, no one was around, or so he thought.

He almost growled when he sensed her. "Sasuke… C-can I talk to y-you? I know that you probably don't want to listen b-but… C-can we talk?" Shizuka's voice sounded out from the pavement where the dock met solid ground. He nodded, his neck felling stiff in rebellion against the action.

"Thank you." She added quietly.

Silence followed, in till Shizuka spoke up. "I know that you probably don't want to talk about your brother, but I do want to explain. I know you'll hate me no mater what I say but…"

He didn't even turn to look at her. "Talk." He muttered coldly.

"Can we go somewhere else though? I don't want anyone to over hear us…" She whispered shakily. He followed her without answer.

She led then to grassy field on the edge of Konoha. No noises could be heard, and no one could be seen anywhere. Shizuka laid down in the thick layer tall grass, where little wild flowers brushed her cheeks. She closed her eyes, and tilted her head to the side so that she could lay comfortably with her hair still up as usual. Sasuke stood for a minute before sitting down a little ways from her.

Shizuka took a deep breath. "I met you're brother, exactly six days after he massacred the Uchiha clan, just a few days before he joined Akatsuki. That memory is one of my strongest. It was the first night my brother, Tatsuhiro, dared to leave me alone since my mother died. He made sure I had food, water, blankets, and fire. He left me in a cave, since we were so far away from any village. I was sitting in front of the fire, curled up in a ball with all my blankets, when Itachi appeared."

She paused for a moment, closing her eyes again before continuing.

"I noticed him outside and hid before he came in but, of course he already knew I was there. He came in, sat in front of the fire, and called for me to come out. I remember laughing at his reaction when he saw me. A little girl, body tangled in blankets, hugging a little rabbit stuffy as hard as she could. I really wasn't what he was expecting."

She smiled as sad smile, as if missing days of happiness.

"I was cautious of him at first, but somehow I could sense that he wouldn't hurt me. I knew very little of him, but I did know who he was as soon as I saw him. I knew that he wasn't going to hurt me, so I sat back down." She yawned.

"We talked for a long time. Well, he didn't talk much, but I forced some things out of him. He told me of you. He told me that he was a rogue, and I should be cowering in fear at his presence. I laughed at him and told him that he's an idiot if he thinks that I'm scared of him. I'm probably the only person who ever got away with calling Uchiha Itachi stupid. I think he let it pass because… well actually one of the Akatsuki members told me this. She thought that Itachi let it pass because I reminded him of you, of what you could have been. I was happy, even when I was sad, because I hadn't lost all trust in others."

Her voice halted for an instant, before wavering as she added. "I understand that, but seeing what you are now; I cannot see it. I look into your eyes and see the same pain and suffering as are reflected in mine, but yours are cloaked in hatred. There is no hatred in my eyes, because I do not live to avenge my clan. I live for them."

Sasuke didn't comment as she spoke. He found it hard to believe that she didn't want to have revenge.

"That night Itachi told me of that he killed the clan, it was the first time I even heard the news. I know you won't be able to believe it, but he looked sad, like he regretted it. At times it was less like he was taking to me and more like he was talking to himself. I think he just wanted to say it out loud rather then repeating it in his head over and over. He truly looked sad, as weird as that seems."

She frowned, and then chuckled as she cracked a smile.

"You know, I lived with the Akatsuki for a whole year, and no mater how many times I tried Itachi was the only person in there that I couldn't make smile. Not even once could I get him to smile. I even got there leader to smile, only once, but he smiled. Itachi never did." She laughed. "I tried so hard to make him smile, just once, just to prove that he could."

There was a long silence. Sasuke waited quietly, in till he knew Shizuka would not speak again. He sat completely immobile. He couldn't understand how she could have ever trusted criminals like the Akatsuki. She knew who they were before she met them, so how could she have trusted them. He was so confused.

He sat there, in the grass, thinking, in till words spilled from his mouth accidentally. "You knew who Itachi was… you knew that he was evil, yet you spoke with him like he was any other person… You trusted him."

Shizuka sat up, as turned her eyes to the stars. The blurry little white dots covered the dark sky, surrounding the huge pale moon. She seemed to hesitate for a second, pondering on how to answer.

Her eyes turned on him, and without wavering or stuttering, she said. "I trusted Itachi in that moment because I knew. To you, Itachi is a figure of horror, one who destroyed everything…"

Sasuke watched as she blinked, taking a breath, and cursed himself for paying to much attention to every little detail on her face.

"To me…" She continued. "To me… Itachi wasn't this horrible person. To me… Itachi was just another person that both has destroyed and has had destroyed… everything he ever cared for."

-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-

An: Well that was interesting…


	14. Cursed Temple of Amaterasu

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but Shizuka is mine.

An: Lots of Pov changing in this chapter, sorry if it screws with your head.

-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-

Chapter 13: Cursed Temple of Amaterasu

"_Tell me everything she told you." A female voice demanded, sitting in her chair, looking out at the village. A dark-haired boy stood behind her, deep in thought. _

_While her expression was of annoyance, his cold face was completely blank. _

"_I will not tell you stories that are not mine to tell." He said quoting the very girl he had been sent to interrogate. "That was an order, Uchiha." the Hokage said._

_Sasuke nodded, watching as she turned to look at him. "She told me how she met Itachi. It was completely accidental, apparently. The only big piece of information she said was that she'd lived with the Akatsuki for a year, prior to coming here." He told her. _

_The blond woman looked down for a second. "Is she a spy?" She mumbled._

"_I don't know."_

"Ok, one mission, easy C-rank. A small village near the border with Suna who has a problem in the nearby temple. Villagers claim that there's a ghost there, one who's been creating illusions all over the place. Just find out who it really is causing the trouble. Simple mission, very little chance of running into trouble." Tsunade told them.

Shizuka rolled her eyes. "We're going ghost-hunting?" She laughed.

"You are lucky to be getting any missions. The council elders wanted you in prison for affiliation with the Akatsuki." The Hokage said. Shizuka nodded, knowing it would do no good to comment.

"Hopefully, you won't find any trouble, but knowing you four… there will be." Tsunade grumbled.

Team seven sighed in unison and left. They set out half and hour later from the gates.

- - -(Sasuke's POV) - - -

"Let's set up camp now. That way we should be able to get to the village by noon tomorrow." Kakashi told them before sitting down with is book in one hand. Sasuke nodded and went to help put up the tent with Naruto.

Later that night, as Sasuke lay sleepless, he heard Shizuka mumble something to Kakashi, who was on watch duty. He listened carefully as he felt her chakra fade as she left. He wondered what Kakashi was doing, the whole team knew that they weren't supposed to let her out of their sight. He could tell that Shizuka was fairly far away, father then she would go if she say just had to go to the bathroom.

He could tell that Kakashi knew that to, but he didn't seem to care.

Slowly, Sasuke crawled out of the tent. He stood and dusted of his knees. He glanced over at his teacher, sitting on a stump with his book. He held one hand up, and was pointing to the west. "She went that way." He mumbled, never take his eye of the book.

Neither said a word as Sasuke walked in that direction.

He found her, sitting in the top-most braches of a giant tree. He crawled up easily, and watched her from a few feet away. She was staring at the dark, navy-black sky with glazed over, dead-looking eyes. She didn't move an inch to notify his presence for a long while, and for just as long he said nothing.

She never took her eyes off the glistening yellow-white stars as she spoke. "I've always loved the night sky, just when the moon is at its peak. The stars always seem to shine brighter in that instant, even if it is just that. An instant. It never last, but none the less I've always found it comforting. That the cold air returns each night to brush against the wings of those who dare to fly in its darkness. I've heard that one can live in it forever and never understand what it is really to fly at the peak of night. Those who do not belong fear it, but I find myself calling it home."

She paused. "You should be sleeping, Sasuke. It is late."

He didn't move. He knew that she was simply trying to tell him to leave her alone in the most complicated way possible.

"Should the wind decide that you are not welcome, and knock you out of this tree, do not expect me to catch you. You will fall, and from this height, you would not make it. You do not belong here." Shizuka told him quietly.

"Are you implying that you think that I fear heights?" He demanded.

She chuckled and turned her dead-like eyes on him. "No. I'm implying that you fear me."

He almost flinched. His obsidian black eyes widened, before going back to a strait face. He looked over at his teammate again. Her pale skin was almost pure-white in the deep moonlight, as was his. But her eyes, no her eyes were dead. No emotion swirled in there depths. Not anger, not happiness, not sorrows, neither fear nor excitement. They were dead. The deep, green blue of her right eye, appeared to be fading. Gone, in the light of the moon, they had disappeared.

He watched her none-existent movement. There was no twitch, no rustle of feathers in the breeze, no blinking. Just the sound of a soft heartbeat, and the gentle, weak, motions of her breath. Her dead eyes bore into his. He froze, unable to move. Then, the breeze rattled their hair, and obstructed Shizuka view of him, and he was free. His fist clenched in the effort not to le himself take a step back, an action that would make him fall out of the tree.

"You do no belong here."

Shizuka titled her head back to the sky, and stared. Free of her paralyzing gaze, Sasuke took a step towards away on his faltering legs. Shizuka let out a deep screeching cry, like an eagle's signal, and stood on her toes. A fierce wind crashed past them, and Shizuka's giant wings lifted her into the dark air, blending in with the night. It buffeted past Sasuke, and with one last push of force, the chakra the pinned his feet to the branch failed and he toppled downwards.

For a moment he almost understood. The wind sprawling past you're limbs, curled around you, the sound of the air moving.

Then, a flash of grey, an awkward yank and Sasuke was upright again. He felt the strong beats of wings, and sensed the strength of the one who carried him. Shizuka's small, clawed hands held him up under his armpits. She caught him.

Her enormous black wings beat, and she sat him down on the tree again. The wind had died down and the gentle breeze had returned.

He watched as she pulled around in a few loops, curling over him, high above like a falcon circling prey. An owl hooted in the distance and a lone raven croaked. A deep eagle's cry sounded above his head, loud and clear. Shizuka drifted back down, the tips of her wings bending softly. Then she stood on the very highest branch, that looked as though it should have long-since broken under her weight. But stay it did, as did she.

She jumped down beside him carefully, and lifted him up again. Just as he went to protest, she jumped from the tree and in seconds they were already on the ground. She let him go and took a few steps away, her back facing him.

Sasuke stared. "Shizuka… They didn't actually send you to Ibiki, did they?" He whispered.

The girl chuckled. She turned to face him with a smile. Her eyes didn't meet his, but he could tell that the life had returned to them. She was clutching onto one of her arms, where he could see the faint outline of a deep scar under her sleeve. She gave him a small smile, and said.

"Of course not."

He could tell that she was lying.

- - -(Shizuka's POV)- - -

Shizuka returned in the morning, as she had promised, and never even gave Sasuke a look. The walk to the village was plain.

Naruto noticed the unease between his two teammates and tried to trick them multiple times into talking to each other. It never worked. The two were as silent as stone.

The village greeted the ninja with pure relief. They knew that there problem would now be fixed, and for that they were all happy. As the team walked around they heard story after story about the so-called ghost.

It appeared that while the ghost had never really hurt someone, they had the sinking impression that it soon would. It had trick people into walking circle around the village for hours. It had made things disappeared only to return on the other side of the street a few minutes later. And most recently, it had led a girl of only four years old to the temple, and was there for hours. They found the girl on the edge of the village, completely brainwashed.

The temple had long since been abandoned, they said. The girl had been found sitting on the ground, like nothing had ever happened. They spoke of how she was telling them all these weird things. They thought that she was under a genjutsu so they tried to keep her inside with her parents help. They began calling the temple the curse temple of Amaterasu, a sun goddess whose shrine resided there.

"Can we speak with her?" Shizuka asked when they spoke with one man.

He bit his lip. "I can point you in the right direction, but you'd have to ask her parents, of course." She nodded.

A little while later that's where they were. Her parents had agreed to let them see their daughter, if only to see if she was indeed under genjutsu. They decided to let Shizuka go in alone, since too many would overwhelm her. Shizuka walked into the girl bedroom and smiled. The little girl was sitting on her bed, drawing on a piece of paper with a pack of crayons.

The little girl looked sweetly up at her with wide eyes. Shizuka smiled. "Hello, Kana. My name is Shizuka, and I've been sent to take care of that ghost. Can you tell me about it?" She asked.

The little girl looked back down at her picture and started doodling again. "Please don't hurt her, she's my friend."

"Don't worry I just want to talk to her. She's been scaring the villagers a lot. I just don't want her to get in trouble. What can you tell me about when you went over to the temple?" The teen smiled.

The little girl pointed one short finger at her picture; a very blurry picture of a white wolf lying in the grass. "That's her." Kana said.

"She's a very pretty wolf. Is that the one who led you to the temple?"

Kana nodded, before continuing on her picture.

"Do you think that if I went over to the temple that she'd still be there? I'd like to see her very much." Shizuka asked quietly.

"Of course, silly! That's where she lives!" The little girl laughed. Shizuka grinned and placed a hand on her head. Ruffling the girl's hair, she giggled. "Thank you, I'll come by to see you later, alright Kana?"

The child nodded, a wide toothed smile on her face.

Once back outside, she saw Kakashi speaking with the child's parents. Shizuka walked up. "No signs of genjutsu, so don't worry. It's just her imagination." She told the parents, before turning to Kakashi. "We should go check out the temple, before nightfall. Our 'ghost' might just still be there." He nodded.

Less then twenty minutes later, team seven stood outside the entrance of the abandoned temple, which was just out of town. The grass rustled in the breeze. It was cloudy out now, despite being sunny not half and hour ago.

The building was in utter disrepair. The large Tori gate at the top of the small staircase was old and rotting, and a handful of walls looked ready to fall over. Vines overgrew with weeds in every crevice, yet beauty remained in every wild flower, every dusty paw print in the sand from animals that passed, and every little patch of perfect green grass. An air of peace rested in this place, not one of fear.

"Split up. Shizuka, Sasuke take the left wing, Naruto and I will take the right wing. Meet back here in twenty minutes." Kakashi told them firmly before walking off towards the building. Naruto shrugged and followed him.

The two Genin walked off, and unspoken communication leading them as they walked side by side.

- - -(Kakashi's Pov)- - -

Kakashi could sense it. He could sense that this was no normal place. It was not home to any human, or any animal. The presence here was in the air. He could sense something, but where and what was a mystery.

The dark corridors were lined with crumbling dirt and weeds.

There was a loud crash behind him, but he found himself unable to turn. In the fray of kicked up dirt clouds, Naruto disappeared.

Kakashi could sense it. The presence here had found him first. And here it proved that even he could easily fall under genjutsu.

_Blindness. There was no sight here, he thought, but it was not true. A pale light buzzed even in the darkness. With a resounding crash he sensed the rocks falling above them. Them. He wasn't alone, no, he wasn't alone. He could sense them. His friends. _

_His head pounded as he was force to relive the memory. Why? He couldn't understand it. He didn't want to understand it. _

_In a last ditch effort he covered his head with his hands as he felt himself being thrown out of the way of the falling boulders. A strangled gasp, and the crash as the giant rock fell. He felt it again, the sudden drop of strength in the air. _

_Sight was returning to him, and the pale skin of his arm came into view. He couldn't move his body more a moment. He heard a moan behind him. He didn't need to try to turn to see who it was. _

_He didn't want to hear the voice that followed. For it had haunted his dreams for many nights. But hear it he did, the strangled gasping voice of his best friend. Yes, his best friend. He could admit it now. To bad he wasn't alive to hear it anymore. He was too late._

"_**Daijoubu ka? Rin… Kakashi?" **_

_Obito's pained voice sounded forced. 'Are you alright? Rin… Kakashi?' He had mumbled. Those were the words he had said. Obito knew that he was dead, but he wouldn't let them be too._

_Kakashi felt himself being pulled up in his younger body. Fear enveloping his one uncovered eye. He ran up and immediately tried to push the enormous boulder of his friend. He already knew that there was no point. He could do nothing but listen as Obito told him that it was useless. That he was dying anyways. He could do nothing but swear in rage and let himself cry for the first time since his father's death._

_That was the day that Obito Uchiha, black sheep of the Uchiha clan, had died and given him his Sharingan._

"_Whatever the village may say… Kakashi, you're a great Jonin." Obito told him, a smile on his face as he gave away his Sharingan to save his friend. _

"_I'm about to die, but… I'll become your eye and…see the future… for you." Obito said, only seconds before Rin, there medic nin teammate and friend transplanted his eye into Kakashi's. _

_Tears flowed freely from Kakashi's eyes that night, as he watched his friend die. _

_Rin had been saved from the blast, but the elder Kakashi knew. He had failed at his promise. Later, he had failed her too._

"_**Hayakusiro**! Go, hurry! Take Rin and go. Protect her."_

Kakashi woke stiff, with tears in both his, and Obito's eye.

- - -(Naruto's Pov)- - -

Naruto crawled along the ground, wincing. He'd banged his leg on something and had fallen down into the basement of the temple through a trap door. It smelled of musty old scrolls.

He sensed something behind him, at last second, but it was too late. He had already fallen under its illusion.

_Red chakra seeped through the village, his village. This was his home, and he was destroying it. He barely felt the connection between him and the body that moved with a destructive force. _

_The Kyuubi was free, and bodies lay scrambled at his feet. The giant fox was growing its last tail. Naruto would vanish and the fox would have completely taken control. _

_The Kyuubi no Yoko was back. _

_He heard the villager's cries of despair as they tried to run. He fought and fought but there was nothing he could do. _

_He observed the scene from a distance, away from all the others. Tears streamed down his face, as he screamed. His worst nightmare was playing out before his eyes. _

_The village was crumbling, Konoha had fallen._

_Buildings were ravaged, innocents slaughtered, but the Konoha nin stood true and strong. They knew that this would be there last fight. They knew that they would be seen as the ones who had fought. They stood there ground against the demon. The world would here of this. The Konoha shinobi who stood to face the Kyuubi once more. _

_They could only hope that the world would survive its wrath long enough to know that they had tried to stop it. They could only hope, but even that was fading. _

_The beast ruby colored eye flashed in rage as a solid fire-jutsu burned its front paw. _

_Naruto whimpered when he saw what lay at the demons feet. Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino… and many others lay dead. He watched, crying as Sakura's limp body was added to the pile. Kakashi was fighting with the other Jonin's. The Kyuubi spun itself over to them, and let out a huge roar. Kakashi fell. _

_A sudden loud cry was heard, and Naruto turned to see who it was. _

_Shizuka and Sasuke jumped out, battered and broken. There was a loud growl from the Kyuubi when he saw the familiar Sharingan. They didn't last a second before they were scoped up in the jaws of the giant monster. The crushing sound of bones cracking and Naruto's vision faded._

Naruto woke on the cold floor, shivering. Tears streamed down his face. He could do naught but force himself to stand. He forced fear of his face and told himself that as long as he stayed strong and fought against the Kyuubi, his vision would never come true.

-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-

An: Ah ha ha! Illusions! Do you think I did a good job with Obito's death scene? I think that I did, even if I ended up re-watching that episode like three times to make sure that I got it right.

"Daijoubu ka?" as previous stated, means "Are you alright?"

"Hayakusiro" is the impolite way to say hurry up.


	15. Illusions of Fear

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

An: Have fun reading lots of _Italics _and for those who didn't know "Shinigami" means "God of Death".

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Chapter 14: Illusions of Fear

Shizuka walked down the long corridor with Sasuke at her side. Never was a word spoken between the two. The tension in the air was heavy, but neither would speak in the awkward silence.

It seemed too quiet.

Sasuke walked strait on ahead, but stopped when she did. Her ear twitched. Her wings spread and her eyes spun. A hiss drew from her mouth as she whispered. "Something is watching us." She growled.

He nodded.

Shizuka took a step forward, and paused. Shaking her head, she continued to walk forward. Sasuke followed silently, uncaring. It was less then a minute when they came upon an amazing sight. They came upon an open door that led to something they hadn't expected to find. Inside the temple, surrounded by three thick walls, was a garden. The last wall was completely open to the outside. A field, a shimmering brook, and a great willow tree were on the outside. The garden reached to the edges of the room. It though not taken care of was truly something else. Wildflowers of every color, shape, and size blossomed in the tall grasses. Beauty was found in this place, crawling in the most unknown places. The leaves of the willow dusted the ground, its branches weeping low. The fading sun settled over the area, reveling in all its glory.

Shizuka took a deep breath. The simple scent of earth surrounded her, with the breeze carrying the odor of a thousand flowers. She smiled. This place, she couldn't understand, how could something evil live here? It was not a place that could be fooled or destroyed; it was a place of peace. The silence here wafted over them. Shizuka almost felt as if she didn't want to leave.

She walked down the overgrown path to a second door, opposite to where she came out. She laughed happily as she spun around, completely oblivious of anything around her. A childish joy swept over her as she skipped through the garden.

She missed catching Sasuke's reaction. She missed as his face shifted into a faint, barely-barely noticeable smile. She missed the presence of the one that was watching them coming closer.

She twirled around, laughing and giggling. Her grin never faded, as she spun to a stop. She smiled up at Sasuke, who was still standing at the doorway, without any expression. She beckoned for him to come over and began to look around again.

Around the corner of one wall, was a separate building. It was small and a simple square, with a large double door. On each side of the door sat to identical statues of clean white wolves. They were polished to perfection and the wildflowers seemed to be stronger, but better kept there then anywhere else. Vines wrapped around the paws and tails of the giant stones.

Shizuka looked into their jade eyes of the beasts in awe. Light bounced of the life-like deep green eyes, making them sparkle for all their worth. It was a shrine, and the wolves it's guardians. They stood tall and proud against any whom dared to intrude with thoughts of stealing the treasures inside. There was something about them that felt almost alive.

Shizuka walked up calmly, and placed one soft clawed hand on the muzzle of one statue. Its cold jade eyes seemed to twinkle knowingly at her. She felt the sudden desire to run, as if this place was dangerous, but she could not move. Her body tensed, but she didn't move, she couldn't. She closed her eyes and stay as still as the statue before her. The cool stone that rested underneath her hand sent a shiver up her spine.

The lifted her hand cautiously and opened the door to go inside. Sasuke followed right behind her slowly. Inside a single lit torch illuminated the room. On the far wall, was a single wall scroll depicting the same pure white wolf, jumping over a creak, with a small red flaming disk floating over its back.

A growl rose behind them, and the door slammed behind them in the wind. She managed one glance at Sasuke, then a strange chakra came over them, and she fell to the ground. Her eyes slid closed as she watched Sasuke tumble and fall, just a second afterwards.

A loud growl grew behind them, as the chakra forced them into the oblivion.

- - -(Kakashi's POV)- - -

Kakashi wiped the tears off on his shirt as he stood. He growled at the tears and forced them back. He crawled to his feet, dusted himself off, yanked off his Hitai-ate, and shook out his hair. He took one brief look around, and sensed Naruto underneath him in the basement. He heard the ruffling of clothes that signaled that he too was just standing up. He took a few steps and saw the trap door that Naruto had fallen through. He jumped down, Hitai-ate still in his hand, and walked over to his student. Naruto turned and stared at his sensei.

"You were crying." He mumbled. Kakashi blinked slowly. "So were you. Come on, we have to go find Shizuka and Sasuke; before they get into too much trouble."

- - -(Shizuka &/OR Sasuke's Pov)- - -

_Darkness flooded around her. She could not see, she could sense nothing but the weak heat of the body next to her. She crawled onto her knees, shaking. She turned, but nothing she could see. Something was there though. She knew._

_Slowly, a soft light, barely visible, illuminated the little area around her. Sasuke was on the ground, just forcing himself up. They forced themselves to their feet and their eyes met. A shiver wracked both their bodies, and in unison they turned to the east. _

_Suddenly, light surrounded them, blinding them, and then they stood on an unfamiliar street. Shizuka took a glance at her teammate, and his expression told her that this was not unfamiliar to him. Slowly, almost involuntarily, he raised his hand. No, something was trying to get him not to move, but he fought. _

_Shizuka watched unmoving, as Sasuke's hand gripped hers. He lifted her hand to her face. "Cover your eyes. Don't watch." He said in a soft, worried tone. It was the first time Shizuka had ever heard him speak like that. All harshness was gone from his voice. Only a dull, quiet, knowing sadness remained. _

_She lowered her hand to look him in the eye. Only a sliver of anger remained, but the anger was strong. It was precise. He knew exactly what was going on. "Sasuke?" She whispered, but he could not hear, for in that instant the loud scream of a woman echoed down the road. Sasuke shook, his eyes widening. _

_His eyes were flashing every which way. "Keep your eyes closed." He told her firmly. She ignored him and took a step closer. Fear enveloped them as they were forced forward. Forms lay on the ground in the distance, but as they approached, they shifted into corpses of the recently dead. A shiver wracked Shizuka's spine. Her fist clenched around Sasuke's wrist. _

_The young teen turned to her, and whispered. "Close your eyes, and plug your ears." She shook her head as they were forced another few steps forward by the power that control them. Another scream filled the area, and Sasuke shook. _

"_Please. Close your eyes. Don't watch, please." He begged. He didn't want her to see this. She shouldn't have to relive his painful memories. _

_She wasn't given a chance to answer as they were forced into a sprint. They stopped just outside a large house, which Shizuka dully recognized as Sasuke's. Her eyes widened as she realized just what was happening. _

_This Genjutsu was powerful enough that not even she, who had the power to break through Tsukuyomi, could not crack. It was showing memories, and it didn't take long for her to realize just which one of Sasuke's memories had been brought to the surface. _

"_Close your eyes." The whisper came again, but fell upon deaf ears. She would not listen. _

_They were forced forward to a bedroom at the end of a long corridor. Sasuke gritted his teeth. The door was wretched open, and they stood looking down at a younger Sasuke on his knees. On the floor in front of his laid the fresh corpses of his parents. Itachi's bloody katana rested just above them. The elder Uchiha was without emotion at the other end of the room, his Sharingan spinning dully. _

_Sasuke lifted his hand over Shizuka's eyes, and forced his own closed. They listened to the cries of the voices of the Uchiha brothers' past selves. They listened, and a few tears slipped down Shizuka's face. _

_Sasuke felt the warm salt water touch his hand and instinctively whispered. "Shhhh…" _

_She felt his every same pain as he had felt that day. They washed over them, poring hatred and sorrow over their souls. They could do nothing to stop it. _

_Eventually, the screams and cries of the dying Uchiha clan, remnants of Itachi's brutal Tsukuyomi, faded. Then once again, complete darkness engulfed them, and Sasuke's hand fell back to his side. _

_Silence was their only sanctuary, but it was fleeting. Peace could not stay, for chaos once again ensued. Shizuka and Sasuke stood side by side, just a hair's width away from touching shoulders. Sasuke's hair ruffled when a sudden breeze picked up. He watched as once again light began to drip into the area. _

_A scene never came to him, instead he found himself staring blankly at the palm of Shizuka's small hand. He pushed her hand out of the way and looked out over the area. They stood on the roof of a building, over looking a town. _

_A woman's soft gentle voice flowed from a little ways to their right. "You've been really quiet recently Shizuka? Is something wrong?" _

_Sasuke turned to look, but Shizuka simply turned away. _

_The woman was seated on the roof of a building adjacent to the one they stood upon. Leaning, with her head on the woman's shoulder, was a younger Shizuka. "Kaa-san… Will we ever get to go back home?" The young girl mumbled. The dark haired woman with pure white eyes looked down. "I'm afraid not, musume." She sighed, and cradled her ten year old daughter's head in her lap. A tear fell from the girl's eye, in perfect sequence with the older Shizuka. _

_Sasuke looked toward her, who was looking out towards the west. "He's here." She whispered. _

_With an enormous crash, a serpent-like, four-legged, wingless dragon came into view. Its body was covered in scales of the darkest grey, with pure white claws and fangs, and a silky ice-blue mane. It roared loudly as it toppled over building after building, leaving none alive. _

_Tenshi and her daughter stood, but they were motionless. In under a minute the village was completely ravaged and the beast upon them. The brown haired Uchiha-Hyuuga woman yelled at the demon. "How could you? You betrayed us! We trusted you!" The woman yelled. The younger Shizuka trembled and mouthed out one word. "Onii-san…" _

_Sasuke and Shizuka were held in their spot, unable to move. They could do nothing but watch. The wave's of pain that swept over Shizuka couldn't be controlled and rested in the air. She was shaking. Her midnight black wings looked frayed. She looked more dangerous and wild every second that passed. _

_The house-sized dragon demon landed with a crunch in a large courtyard before them. The look in its eyes was crazed, but somewhere in their depths laid a hidden regret. It growled, lips curling around its canine-like jaw, to reveal white fangs covered in fresh blood. _

_Chakra flared around the woman who stood before it. She glared with such hatred and shame at the demon it shook the two on-lookers to the core. _

_Sasuke felt Shizuka's pain as his own as they watched her mother die at the claws of the demon. He felt her younger self's surprise as another dragon landed in front of her. This one though, was bent on saving her._

_The second dragon roared loudly as it landed. It was identical in all but color. Its coat was directly apposite to the first dragon. White scales, black claws, and dark burgundy red mane. _

_The two demons snapped at each other, snarling. It passed in a flash to fast for anyone to see. In an instant, the white dragon was writhing on the ground. A long gash crawled up its back and neck on the side of his body, over the shoulder blade. The wound was so deep, it looked as if one false movement and one of the dragon's front legs would be completely severed. _

_The near-black dragon ignored the other one, and turned its eyes upon the only human left alive. The girl shivered, and stared. In half an instant, hand seals were made, and the Shinigami appeared. _

_Sasuke felt Shizuka's pain as his own. He felt as his soul was pulled out from his body, a pain that he knew he would never be able to describe. He felt the pain of a great sealing, binding restricting chains between two beings. His fists clenched at the sight and the feeling of death, and then it stopped. His soul was force back into his body by a foreign chakra, and the Shinigami disappeared, leaving a weakened seal, and an unstable girl. Her last words before falling unconscious were. "I'm sorry, my brother."_

_He watched, with the present time Shizuka at his side, as the white dragon let out a deafening roar. He pulled his body off the ground, balancing on three legs, and turned his bloody visage toward the unconscious younger Shizuka. With a growl, he balanced on his hind legs for half a second, and picked the dark-haired girl, and launched into the air. _

_The scene faded once more into darkness and silence crept in again. No, not silence, a sniffle sounded. He looked over at his teammate. A thin stream of tears dripped down the Genin's face. _

_Shizuka sighed and whipped her eyes, clearing her vision of the tears of the past. She could feel Sasuke's penetrating gaze watching her. The Genjutsu had not yet stopped, it was not finished. She shivered at the though of what was to come next. _

_The moment was uncharacteristically calm between the two. They had no time to fight, or ignore each other. They could not speak, and their emotions were slowly blending into one. She had felt the very same pain as the Uchiha boy beside her, as he had felt hers. In here they were linked. In here they understood each other. _

_The outside world slowly faded from their grasps as the darkness didn't fade. It felt as if the light would never return, and they would be forced to live out the rest of their lives in oblivion. Ages seemed to pass, and the two never spoke. Their mouths were glued shut. They were mute. They were blind. They would never know if deafness had struck them as well. _

_Only the faintest of senses told them that the other was still at their side. They refused to touch. Their very pride refused having a hand to hold, or a shoulder to cry on in the dark days. They stood for years beside one another, but never close enough to be together. Their emotions were one, but their bodies separate and ignorant. They could not control anything. They were frozen statues of previous lives, ghosts of what they had been; twin restless ghosts awake in the darkness. \_

_Leagues of time had passed, yet even in all the ages, neither wisdom nor escape from fear was granted to them. Shivers of fear, and of the desperate coldness that grew around them, wracked their bodies. When something hit one, the other felt the pain as their own. They were identical, and opposite. _

_Two human-like statues waiting for the light of day, but knowing that it would never again return. They would never again see the sun rise or set. It was dead, and so were they._

_It felt like a millennia before the life returned to their corpses. It did happen though. The stone shed it's concrete shell, and stretched it's limbs. Ghosts returned to the world of the living, but light did not. _

_A whimpering squeak came and passed, proving that deafness had not followed it's family. Another squeak and a faint light came from down a long corridor. They still could not see, but it seemed that blindness was leaving. Another squeak and the faintest light flashed off ivory scales. _

_Something ran over the girl's foot, a single grey mouse. It was running away, and from what she knew that she would soon find out. Her hands shook as a wave of cold air, and a flash of killing intent lashed out in the abyss. She sensed the boy beside her take a step closer._

_The last of the three brothers; blind, deaf, and mute, remain to torture the two beings. Even as she tried, she could not speak. _

_Somehow she had still yet to understand. Her memories seemed frazzled, as were his. She could not remember anything. Not the meaning of human, or how she moved her limbs. Not her own name. Not even the memory of the night wind sinking under the wings. Her sense of being was frayed, and all she knew was a dark cold, and a fear rooted deep in her nerves. _

_The ivory scaled beast slunk closer each second. It's acid green eyes flashed as it crept up through the shadows. A hiss drew past its lips, alerting them of it's location. _

_Their sight was failing; this slim light was not enough for them, but for the demon ahead of them it was. The enormous snake, the length of four grown men, coiled and bared it's fangs. A killing intent aimed to freeze it's prey in place washed over the area. They both froze for a moment, but it did not last. Sasuke was frozen for less time then Shizuka, but he knew that this was a cheap imitation to the real thing. He had live to fight the monster of a Sanin that was represented by the demon snake. _

"_Orochimaru." He whispered. _

_Shizuka blinked. He could speak. Sasuke could speak. Had she regained that ability as well?_

_She let out a hiss of her own, glaring at the demon, but please that she was no longer mute. It hissed again, and the full force of it's killing intent came crashing down with the force of a raging tsunami. _

_Sasuke realized that he was wrong. No cheap imitation this was. _

_Shizuka, who now could only barely remember her name, was forced back to nothing but a body sustained by a helpless feeling of fear. She could not move, only stare forward. They were frozen again, but this time held in place by the mere strength of his will. Their limbs refused to listen, and their eyelids would not close. They could do nothing but wait as the snake slid a little closer, and then a little closer then that. _

_For a moment it's gaze lifted to look to the north. The two were released from their prison, but it was not long in till the girl froze again. A scream tore through her throat as she saw a form flying towards them in the sky. _

_Sasuke flinched at the sound of her scream, rippling through the hollow area time after time. The girl beside him was shaking uncontrollably. Fear flashed in her eyes, and gasps and pants escaped her mouth faster and faster as the shape came closer. She walked on shaky legs behind him, clutching onto his shoulders in an attempt to hide. _

_He titled his head to see her, ready to fall to her knees. He looked back towards the rapidly approaching form in the air. A dull light bounced off its feathered pelt. The air around it was tinted a deep red. It was a raven, but it's feathers were the dark scarlet color of blood. _

_He felt Shizuka's grip on him loosening, and the girl fell to her knees. She whimpered, and cowered, begging to be left alone. "No… Please, no…" She whispered, her face in her hands against the cold stone floor. The raven, easily three times the size of any other, swopped down just a meter over their heads, letting out a loud croak. _

_Shizuka shook, and bounced back to her feet. Her hand flashed towards him and clutched tightly onto his wrist. Her sharp nails dug into his skin, and blood trickled down his arm. He paid it no mind. With his other arm, he lifted the girl's head up so that she had to look at him._

"_Who is he?" He demanded. _

_The raven soared down, and landed on the demon snakes head. Together the two monsters cried out. They form the worse sound anyone could ever hear. In one last shrieking, hissing, croak, they parted and began towards the two humans. _

_Shizuka whimpered, and more tears spilled over down her face. Her entire body spoke of a fear so great it could control everything. Her grip slowly loosened on his arm, but she didn't let go. _

"_Someone you should pray that you never meet." She whispered shakily before latching her hands onto the front of his shirt, and burying her head in the crook of his neck. _

_His collar grew damp with her tears. Shaking his head in acceptance of this fate, as the demons bore down on top of him, his arms wrapped tightly around the girl. _

_The scent of her hair was of fresh lavender. He lightly tucked her head under his chin, and sighed, taking in her scent. One arm wrapped around her waist, holding her tightly, while the other slid in the small gap between where her wings met her back. _

_Her fear was his, but her simple soft scent and the feel of her familiar presence, was calming. It was a paradise he wouldn't trade for anything, not even his freedom from this horrid place. Here he had to protect her, and if he could not, he would die along side her. For all reasons unknown he knew this. _

_Somehow he knew that if they every returned to the normal world, nothing would ever be the same again. _

_A sudden silence settled over the dark place. It was over, for now. The demons had gone, the white snake and the scarlet raven had taken their leave. The two shinobi were safe. They knew that this Genjutsu was not all over and done, but they could settle in the pale light without worry. _

_Shizuka stayed wrapped in Sasuke's arms long after her tears had dried. The Uchiha boy never pushed her away, simply stayed there without much of a though. The girl rested her head on his shoulder, as he rested his chin on her head. They stayed like that for a long while, in till their disjointed nerves calmed and they could rest in peace. _

_Their breaths were slow, and perfectly in time, as were the heartbeats that sounded in their chests. Shizuka let a small fraction of a smile ghost across her lips. "Thank you, Sasuke." She whispered. _

_He didn't have time to respond as a loud crash sounded and the two were transported to the next scene. Fire flashed before his eyes. The smell of burning flesh covered the calming scent from before. Shrill screams of dying shinobi and civilian alike roused the area. Shizuka backed up, standing beside Sasuke, with one of his arms still wrapped around her waist. _

_She surveyed the death of the great Konohagakure with shock. Corpse spilt over and out of areas like a flyer thrown in the street. The faces of the mountain, of the previous Hokage, were destroyed, and just underneath, the tower where the Godaime Hokage Tsunade resided, was up in flames. Various shinobi, both from Konoha and other villages were there. Some were helping dowse the flames, like those from Sunagakure, and some, like Iwagakure and Kumogakure, were walking down slaughtering any Konoha shinobi they saw. _

_The village was condemned to death, and there was nothing the two Genin standing on the sidelines could do. Sasuke who'd grown up in the village, snarled in hatred at those who would dare touch his home. Shizuka, who'd only recently moved to the village hidden in the leaves, cried once more at the sight. _

"_We have to stop it." Sasuke growled. _

_Shizuka shook her head. "This is just an illusion. Should this ever come to pass, we would stand to fight and it is not we who would fall, but those who dared to fight against the will of fire. Konoha will not fall as easily as this." She said. _

_With that, Sasuke watched as the girl, formed a line of familiar hand seals, and yelled. _

"_**Katon; Goukakyuu no Jutsu!**"_

_The illusion burned away, and blackness retuned for an instant._

- - - (Naruto's Pov)- - -

Naruto wobbled up, leaning on his sensei, toward the shrine where they had suddenly felt Shizuka's chakra flare up. His leg hurt like hell, but right now he knew better than to complain. He pushed the door open with one arm and looked down at the ground. He moved out of the way so that Kakashi could enter, never taking his eyes off them.

His two teammates, who he greatly respected even if he didn't want to admit it, were passed out on the ground. Well Shizuka was, Sasuke was just beginning to push himself onto his knees.

Sasuke stood on wobbling knees for a second, then steadied himself, before looking towards Naruto. The blond boy let out a grin and was about to comment when a quiet moan was heard. The boys turned towards Shizuka as she opened her eyes.

Her breath became heavy and fast for a moment before she flashed up to her feet. In two seconds she was across the room, curled up, burying her face in Sasuke's neck. Naruto only got more confused when Sasuke closed his eyes, rested his chin on her head and wrapped is arms around her frail body.

Just when he was about to comment again, a woman's sorrowful voice interrupted him.

"_You are strong, humans._"

They watched as a thin wolf stepped out from behind a curtain on the back wall, were the scroll of the same wolf resided. The white wolf stared at them with coal black eyes, completely silent.

"_You each passed by my illusions. You are strong. Some of you, must stop trying to forget that which I showed you. You must gain control over these memories, and let them trouble you no more. You must learn to live without regret that these things have happened and that it was meant to be. Some of you, though, I showed things that have not yet come to pass. Do not despair, for should you continue to stand strong they will never happen. Some of you…" _

The voice faded and the she-wolf turned her gaze upon Shizuka and Sasuke, still standing very close.

"_Some of you, I showed some of your greatest fears. No the worst, but close. You must one day conquer these if you are to go on._"

Naruto watched in fascination as Shizuka and Sasuke's eyes met and they seemed to communicate without words.

Shizuka let go of her grip on Sasuke's arm, and bowed before the wolf. "Why have you done this? I care not for myself, nor for any illusion you have place on me, but the people of the village are terrified. Why do you scare them so?" She begged.

The wolf took a step forward and placed her cold wet nose against Shizuka's forehead. Images swept past all their eyes.

First was the wolf rolling in the grass with the some village children. Laughter filled their ears and happiness played over them. Then, it changed. Sadness, abandon. The humans had abandoned the shrine dedicated to the spirit. They felt the rage that consumed her, but saw as she fought against it. She became lonely, and her garden overgrew, without the strength to make it stay like it used to. She showed how the garden had once stayed in full bloom all year round thanks to very powers, and that once every time she set foot upon grass, flowers grew beneath her paws. She whined.

Lastly, she showed the image of the little girl, Kana, who sat in the grass, petting the wolf's head happily. When the child had finally fallen asleep, they watched as the wolf picked her up and balanced the girl on her back to carry her back to the village.

Then the images stopped filing their sights and the wolf whined a pitiful bark. Shizuka smiled up at her and patted her head. Naruto curious, walked up and joined her. The lonely wolf spirit grinned a wolfish grin and sat right down in their laps.

Shizuka laughed her delicate little laugh and said. "So that explains it! The villagers abandoned your shrine, you were just lonely because they stopped visiting."

"We'll get those dumb villagers to start visiting again. Hell, we'll make sure that they get this whole temple up and running again!" Naruto yelled, a huge grin on his face.

And so they did.

"_Thank you, shinobi of Konoha._"

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An: We'll that was a very long chapter… cool.

Katon; Goukakyuu no jutsu = Fire style: Grand Fireball Jutsu

For those who didn't know.

Oh, and anybody who noticed the extremely obvious Okami (© Capcom) is awesome.


	16. Threats of the Imprisoned

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Chapter fifteen: Threats of the Imprisoned

(Naruto's POV)

Shizuka and Sasuke seemed to have come to a sort of awkward understanding. They didn't fight, but they barely spoke either. Naruto could have spent hours trying to figure out what was going on in his friends head, anyone could have, but he was trying to avoid thinking too hard.

He yawned as he went to grab the milk from the fridge in his apartment. The kettle squealed, signaling that the water for his cup-ramen was boiling. He sighed, and poured it, going to sit down to wait out the three never ending minutes before it was done.

As he began to eat, his thoughts drifted away from his meal, and to his friends. He was a bit worried. Sasuke hadn't changed much after their return from that crazy temple a week ago. The Uchiha boy was even quieter then normal, especially around the Kurotori girl, but he was also more violent. Shizuka on the other hand, was acting strange. When it was just Naruto, she still sported a smile and a bit of a laugh. When it was Naruto and Kakashi, she was a bit more wary. Whenever Sasuke was around though, she never said a single word. Unlike Sasuke, she refused not only to speak to the other, but refused to speak in his presence at all. The Uchiha at least, would still tell Naruto to buzz off when the girl was around.

The Uzumaki boy yawned again, and his thoughts were interrupted. A lithe hawk landed gently on his open windowsill in a flutter of wings. In one of its claws was a note. Naruto walked up and took it from the bird's talons. He recognized Shizuka writing immediately. The large bird flew off as he read the note.

-_Change of plans; Kakashi wants us at the field by 6:30, so be there by 8.-_

His jaw dropped to the ground and he robotically turned his head to the clock on his wall. It was 7:53. He though he'd had an hour, he now had seven minutes to get down to the training field.

He rushed through eating, nearly chocking on a noodle, and threw his clothes on as fast as he could. Within less then five minutes, he was out the door on the way to training.

"You're late." Kakashi said when Naruto skidded to a stop before the team.

"As if you weren't…" he mumbled grumpily as he glanced towards his friends. "Thanks for the message Shizuka."

The girl was sitting on the grass, back against a tree, with her eyes closed. Her hair was pinned back into a bun, and she sported her usual grey Kimono. Her single visible eye opened, and she turned her head to meet his gaze. She blinked once at him, stole a spilt second gaze at Sasuke, and stared back at him. She shrugged, before standing up.

Naruto, annoyed that his friend wouldn't even talk to him in the presence of his rival, growled. "I understand you not talking to Sasuke, Shizuka, but why won't you even answer me? You won't even talk when he's around." He yelled.

Shizuka blinked again, and looked down, but once again kept her mouth shut tight. Naruto shook his head.

"Alright, alright. Taijutsu only. Sasuke and Naruto, and Shizuka and me. No objections?" Kakashi said. They sighed.

Before they could set off though, two people came walking up. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya-sama, come to watch us train?" The white haired man chuckled.

"Ohayo Baa-chan, Ero-sennin!" Naruto yelled. "What cha' doing here?"

Ignoring the grinning blond, Tsunade turned to Kakashi. "Sadly no. We're here on business." She turned to look at the Kunoichi who was leaning again the tree again. "I need to borrow Shizuka for a while."

The girl cracked open one eye to look at the Hokage. With a shrug she walked over to the two adults.

"How long?" Kakashi asked.

"It could take 20 minutes, it could take all day. I'll send a messenger if it's going to take that long." Jiraiya told him. Kakashi nodded, seeming to understand why.

Naruto wondered why they would have wanted Shizuka. Surely she wasn't in trouble again. No, he refused to believe that she was a bad guy. She was his friend.

Without saying much more the three set off towards the Hokage's tower, and the rest of team seven stood silently.

"Well get going!" Kakashi yelled, causing the two boys to jump.

Naruto grinned. "Alright, Sasuke-teme, I'm totally beating you this time!"

- - -(Shizuka's Pov)- - -

"So, what's this about?" Shizuka asked when Tsunade completely bypassed the stairs to her office, but instead continued into a room on the bottom floor of the Hokage tower.

"I'm having Jiraiya take a look at that seal of yours. He told me that he noticed how those old bandages that burned had extra seals on them. That leads me to believe that the true seal is weak, for why else would you need the extra ones." Tsunade answered as she motioned for Shizuka to sit down on the cot in the room.

She took note as to how it seemed to be a sort of makeshift hospital room, with cabinets filled to the rim with medical scrolls. Shizuka frowned. "Why now?"

"Because this idiot left town before I could ask him to, and he just got back." Tsunade told her, while glaring at Jiraiya. The white-haired man gave a smirk and Tsunade lightly flicked his forehead, causing him to fall back several paces with a red blotch on his forehead.

The two women laughed.

Shaking his head, Jiraiya walked forward and gestured to Shizuka to hold out her hand. After pulling of the fingerless glove she'd thrown on as a makeshift cover, she placed her hand, palm up, in his.

For several minutes, Jiraiya surveyed the seal, mumbling and frowning. For a moment he held his chin in his hand, and glared at the seal. The black ink seemed to quiver tauntingly.

"Damn it." The seals master growled as he dropped her arm.

Tsunade bit her lip with and angry scowl. "How bad?"

Shizuka looked down at her palm. The black ink had faded and was smudged in several places. She closed her eyes, not really wanting to hear what he was going to say.

The toad sage looked right at them, his gaze shifting between the teen and the elder woman. "There's nothing I can do about it. If it was still in decent condition then I could add to it or if it were completely broken replace it, but like this… The seal's on the edge. Only your will keep's it in place now, Shizuka." He paused.

"One little slip and the whole thing could shatter I fear. Do not under any circumstances use his chakra at all. In fact I'd go so far as to say that we aught to confine you to no missions in till we can come up with a decent plan. We can't have that thing getting out." Jiraiya finished.

"WHAT?" Shizuka screamed before anyone could say anything else. She turned to Tsunade who appeared to be contemplating the idea. "You- NO! You can't seriously be thinking-! No! No missions? You plan to lock me up in the city for who knows how long? You-! No! I can't believe that you're actually considering this!" She ranted.

She kept going on in till they yelled back.

"Shizuka clam down or you'll release the seal right now!" Jiraiya's voice boomed.

Instant silence.

He grabbed her hand and showed her palm to the three of them. They watched as a bit more of the seal faded away. "Whenever you get angry like that you subconsciously let out a bit of the demons chakra. You're going to have to be very careful."

Shizuka's eyes widened. "Eeek! I'm sorry." She squealed.

Tsunade sighed loudly and sat down on the cot beside the teenager. "Are you sure that there is absolutely nothing you can do, Jiraiya?" She mumbled darkly.

"I highly doubt it. I suggest that you keep Shizuka in the village, away from any fighting, for now. Given time, I might be able to manage something before the seal breaks, but it could take a while. I worry that it may be only a matter of time before it does break though." The Sannin told her.

The Godaime nodded slowly, her blond hair shifting forward.

"You… You can't seriously be considering keeping me confined to the village?" Shizuka questioned.

Tsunade nodded again and turned to look at the Genin. "I have to." She mumbled before taking up a demanding tone.

"Kurotori Shizuka, you are hereby confined to stay inside the walls of Konohagakure no Sato, with no missions above D class, in till I personally declare that you may return to normal status again." The Hokage said.

Shizuka groaned. "Was the D class mission thing really necessary?"

Tsuande rolled her eyes. "You're lucky I didn't add that you're not aloud to go to team training too. Now get going, I'm sure they are waiting for you. Tell Kakashi to come by my office when he's done with you three."

Shizuka nodded, glaring at the floor. When her hand went for the door, Jiraiya's voice boomed once more.

"Be careful."

She left without answering.

Tsunade sighed as the girl closed the door behind herself. "I'm not sure whether that was really a good idea or not." She mumbled.

"Only time will tell." Her old teammate said.

After a short little training, team seven, minus Kakashi, who was to go speak with Tsunade, manage to end up at the Uchiha manor, Sasuke's home.

Despite Sasuke trying to convince Naruto to get lost, the blond had dragged his two complaining teammates into the old home. Shizuka immediately wanted to leave, but Naruto latched onto her arm and dragged her in. Sasuke simply sighed and gave up, walking to the kitchen to grab something to drink.

Shizuka had to say that despite her desire to be far, far away from the Uchiha clan's old residence, it was a very nice house, though far to big for just Sasuke to take care of alone. She'd place her bets that he didn't bother cleaning any rooms that he didn't absolutely need to.

Naruto and Shizuka followed Sasuke to the kitchen, which despite the size of the house, was not that much bigger then Shizuka's, but she had a big kitchen for a tiny apartment. The Uchiha boy pulled open the refrigerator, ignoring his two followers.

Shizuka giggled when she saw the continents of the fridge. Sasuke looked up at her. She laughed. "You really aught to eat more than just onigiri and tomatoes, Sasuke." She said, looking into the fridge that seemed to be mostly devoid of other types of food.

Naruto just looked plain shocked that Shizuka had even spoken with Sasuke around, much less strait to him, in his house. He could only be more shocked at what happened next.

Shizuka walked right up, snatched a perfect looking tomato out of the refrigerator, washed it in the sink, and took a bite out of it as if it was an apple. Sasuke only smirked and did the same. They sat right down across from each other on the floor before the small in-kitchen table, and had a staring contest while they ate. Naruto grumbled something about "tomato-eating freaks" and began to rummage through Sasuke's kitchen in search of something that he liked.

When he managed to find a can of pop for him to drink, he exclaimed. "Hey, why don't we go over to Shizuka's tomorrow!"

The girl nearly choked.

It had been two weeks since the fifth Hokage set the rule not to let Shizuka out of the city, and the girl was getting more irritable by the day. After the day that her two teammates came over to her house, she'd stopped talking again. She avoided the two boys except during training. She'd been told repeatedly to take it easy at training, but she ignored all the warnings.

'_For once I'm going to handle this myself. I don't need their stupid pity, I can hold the seal myself._' She thought as she sat at home alone; the _rest_ of team seven was on a mission. She didn't believe that she had to be locked up like this. It only infuriated her more.

She could sense that the seal was weakening though. She sensed it every moment. Ryoto wanted free, and she was unsure of what he'd do if he managed to escape. She wondered if he still felt that hatred he did when she first sealed him away, she hadn't spoken to him since.

Only once had she spoken to him after her clan's death, the night after she'd woken from the sealing. She fell asleep that night and wandered into the depth of her mind where the great dragon was held. She remembered it like it was yesterday, that time, three years ago.

- -(flashback no jutsu )- -

_I wandered forward aimlessly, without thoughts or hesitation. I felt like I was sleep walking, but I was wide awake. I remembered falling asleep though, and I knew I hadn't woken. _

_It was very dark, dark and cold, in these tunnels lined with stone. No heat resided in this place, no love, only a cold hatred. _

_A low growl resounded, bouncing off the walls, and I felt constrained. "Why have you come?" a deep familiar voice followed. Ryo-Onii-sama… _

_A small light came from behind his monstrous snake-like form, revealing the silver chains that bound him. He growled, and looked away as if he could not bear the sight of me. _

"_Why?" was all I asked. I needn't say more, he knew of which I spoke. _

_He let out a dark chuckle, and then a roaring laugh. "Your dreaded clan was fated to die, and so I burned them. Their corpses may rot in hell… hehe… but you… You should be proud child, you survived." _

_He laughed harshly, eyes blazing with a fury unknown to man. A growl, one of pure demonic hatred and pleasure, ripped through his throat. His eyes glistened with the thoughts of blood. _

_I knew in that moment that he was not himself, not the brother I had once known. _

"_You survived, but… yes, next time… hehe, you won't be so lucky." He grinned as he spoke, revealing his sharp fangs. _

_I didn't react, simply turning around and leaving, for good. As I turned though, I had to force myself not to think that at that last second, there was not a look of pain in the demon's eyes. He wasn't my brother anymore, I had to believe that. _

- -(end flashback)- -

Shizuka sighed, and dropped her face into a pillow on the couch. She growled at herself. She was sure that those chains that held him wouldn't be so silver anymore, a rusted darkness would have overcome them.

She chuckled.

It was only a matter of time before he followed through with his threat.

The seal wouldn't last much longer, and he…

He would kill her.

-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-

An: Please ignore that Naruto part is OOC, my mind simply doesn't click with the young Naruto's brainlessness.

I went nuts trying to write this chapter… It's been edited and cropped and discarded and rewritten too many times to count. I think my brain exploded. I couldn't think of anything to write, which is why it took forever… I can't even claim that school was the issue because my teachers barely give me any homework… I have all my easy classes first term .

Anyways, sorry for the long wait, it (hopefully) won't happen again.


	17. The Will to Fight

Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape or form own Naruto.

An: I am unsure how much longer I am going to make this… before I moved onto Shippuden that is.

-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-

Chapter sixteen: The Will to Fight

"S-something seems kind of… o-off about S-Shizuka, d-don't you think?" Hinata mumbled. Tenten nodded, she'd noticed it too. Out of all the girls, Tenten was Shizuka's closest friend, having bonded over their love of training and hatred of kunoichi that cared more for their hair then being a ninja.

Shizuka sat just a little out of the group. She heard it when Hinata voice her quiet question. She didn't mind them questioning it amongst themselves, as long as they didn't bother her about her recent behavior.

The whole of the Konoha 11 were here at the park today, and Shizuka was as happy as she could get. She couldn't help but remember that this might very well be the last time she sees everyone here together. She sighed and listened to the wind.

She'd completely given up. She knew that Ryoto would kill her and _she didn't care_. She loved her friends, but she was tired of the games. She would only try to be happy while she still could be. That stupid dragon couldn't control what she did now.

"Shizuka, you'd tell us if there was something wrong right?" Tenten asked her from her seat a few feet away.

Shizuka blinked. "I guess it would have to depend on the situation. Say, if I had a paper cut that would be wrong but I wouldn't tell you." She chuckled, it was most certainly more then a paper cut that was bothering her.

The weapon mistress raised an eyebrow, and asked her real question. "Is there something wrong?"

Shizuka paused. Yes, yes, there was. "Hm… not really. I do have a paper cut though I wasn't planning on telling you." She said raising her finger, where a small bandage rested.

"Shizuka, please tell us the truth…" Hinata said.

That seemed to be enough to catch the boys' attention. They'd gone silent in their bickering for one instant and Hinata said something, albeit quietly, without stuttering.

"Nee, nee, Shizuka-chan, Is something wrong?" Naruto practically yelled.

"Iie, Naruto. I'm fine." The girl in question answered.

"You're lying." Tenten sang.

Suddenly, Shizuka was bombarded with questions. Everyone seemed to be a little curious, and a little concerned.

"Are you alright? I-"

"Did someone hurt you-"

"I something bothering-"

Questions came a mile a minute, mostly from Naruto, who was worried about his friend. Shizuka wanted to growl. She'd hope she'd manage to at least postpone the questions. They kept going about how she'd been acing weird too.

"I'm fine okay?" She yelled, standing up.

It went silent for a second and then the questions had almost started again, when a voice rang out. It was one who had steered clear of the conversation.

"Shizuka."

Sasuke's eyes bore into hers, as he stood up. A shiver ran up her spine. He gave her a look saying that she _would_ tell him later, whether she wanted to or not. She flinched and looked away, admitting defeat.

"Aa…" she mumbled. "Come on, let's just… er, go back to what we were talking about e-earlier?" She stuttered, Sasuke harsh gaze still affecting her.

Those eyes bore not just into your soul but through it, to something more, and revealed all your secrets. She wanted to fall to her knees. Normally it would not affect her, but something was off about Sasuke as well.

Slowly the group defused into small conversations, and Shizuka let out an almost-smile. She never noticed that the dark-haired boy's gaze never left her.

- - -(Sasuke's Pov)- - -

He may have acted completely indifferent to everything going on most of the time, but Sasuke heard everything. He never really missed anything, just chose to ignore most of it. When the shy Hyuga girl, Hinata, mentioned something about Shizuka strange attitude, he tried to ignore it, but found himself following the conversation.

Everyone had noticed that something was off about the half-blind girl. Shizuka seemed to lack enthusiasm for anything, and was acting cold even towards him and Naruto, and Tenten and Hinata, her closest girl-friends. He'd also notice that Kakashi didn't respond at all to his student's behavior, making it seem as if he knew exactly what was going on.

Within minutes of mentions of the girl, Shizuka was being bombarded with questions by all of the Konoha 11 minus him. He still sat, back against a tree calmly. He kept thinking about Shizuka though, as if he could not block her from his mind.

He was worried.

He'd promised himself over and over that he wouldn't care, but he couldn't deny that he did. He stopped trying to lie to himself, he did care for both of his teammates.

He'd managed to tune out the yelling in till Shizuka's voice rose louder than the others.

"I'm fine, okay?" She yelled.

It was such an obvious lie. Anger flashed in his eyes, wouldn't she tell the truth for once? He glared at the ground before pushing himself up to stand.

"Shizuka." He growled, staring at the smaller girl.

Their eyes met and a spark ran through them. He sent her a look that would make her give in, demanding the truth. He didn't understand why, but she never lied to him, not to his face. It was almost as if she was scared he'd see.

Shizuka flinched and looked down, breaking the connection between them. She would tell him later. "Aa…" She mumbled to the others. "Come on, let's just…err, go back to what we were talking about e-earlier?"

He glared her back absentmindedly, and couldn't help but think that her stuttering didn't feel right. Something was greatly wrong.

Shizuka and Sasuke met later that night, as the sun started to fade, on the grassy patch beside a little stream that trickled into the lake. When Sasuke appeared Shizuka was already there.

The girl was lying on her back in the long grass, fast asleep. Sasuke watched as her chest rose and fell gently, and let a miniature smile grace his features. Her head flopped to the side, lips parted just a little. Her soft hair cascaded around her pale face, it appearing almost ebony in color in the rising moonlight. The instant he saw her shiver, the sweater that he'd grabbed last minute, it was starting to get cold out, was draped over her shoulders.

Sasuke sighed and sat down beside her, strangely content just to watch her sleep. Unknowingly, she shifted closer to his warmth, latching a hand onto the edge of his shirt when he laid down. She slept so peacefully that he couldn't bring himself to wake her, for reasons past his knowledge. He didn't know how long he sat there, gazing at her, or at the setting sun.

Quietly she let out a moan beside him and he sat up. "S-Sasuke?" Shizuka mumbled, blinking to clear her eyes. "I'm sorry… Were you waiting long?"

"No." he answered. It was a lie, but he hadn't minded. It was nice, just to relax for a while.

"Good." She smiled. Her smile was so beautiful. His brain reeled, what had possessed him to think that? True as it was, why would he…?

"I'm sorry if my recent behavior has been bothering you, or anybody really. I didn't mean to worry you." She whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear.

He didn't comment only gazed into her mismatched eyes, silently demanding an answer. She flinched and subconsciously scratched at her gloved hand, on the demon seal.

"I don't want to make anyone worry, so I didn't say anything, but it seems that it didn't really work. I… I may not be here with you much longer, S-Sasuke." She was stuttering again, he noticed.

When she said that he knew, no matter how much he wished to deny it, that she hadn't meant simply that she was leaving town. His heart clenched painfully, and he didn't understand why. It felt similar to fear and pain, but it wasn't that, not completely.

He simply kept staring when the girl continued, his hands shaking slightly when he took in her next words.

"I-I…" She paused. "The seal is breaking... It's not going to last much longer. I-I just wanted to live out this last run happy, but it's not working. I'm not happy, because I can't tell everyone the truth, and I want to be, I want to. I can't tell them, because I don't want to worry them, but… I'm dying and t-there's n-nothing that I c-can do."

When she finished, another flash of rage hit him. He forced his hands to stop their incessant shaking and opened his mouth to speak. He hesitated speaking and punched the ground between them hard with a growl.

"You… You're dying, and you're not even trying to fight it!" He roared.

She looked down at the grass, which only made him angrier.

"Don't you want to live? Idiot! You may not have a proper family, but you have a family of friends! Why? What about them! About weapon girl? And Hyuuga? And, god forbid, Naruto!" The girl flinched at every name but he didn't stop. " Y-You, can't you fight this? I though you were stronger than some stupid demon! You sealed him the first time, why can't you do it again?"

The second he paused, she started. "T-that was d-different! I didn't know what I was doing at the time! I was acting on instinct, using a seal I read in an old book. Ryoto breaking out alone could kill me, I won't have enough strength to reseal him. He's claimed my life, Sasuke! He will send me down with the rest of my clan, to the burning pits of hell, as he put it!" She hissed, her wings spreading harshly behind her.

Sasuke closed his eyes, he couldn't bare the sight of the girl. She wasn't going to fight, and in his eyes it was the same as suicide. She was falling apart at the seams, and wasn't even trying to pick up the pieces.

"Fight it. You deserve to live." He said, not even taking note that he was thinking aloud.

It was those words that seemed to break her. Her expression shattered, and in that moment he realized that no-one had ever told her that she deserved to live. Everyone told her that one day she would die like everyone she ever loved, but no-one had every told her that she deserved to live, she had deserved to survive.

Her arms shook violently as she fell down into the long grass, the blades scratching her cheeks. Her obsidian wings crashed down to the ground, lifeless almost. Tears did not stream down her cheeks, but her eyes looked glossy, shadowed.

When Sasuke leaned forward, pulling a hand towards her immobile body, her arm shot out. Her small hand clutch his wrist like she would to stop his fist from punching something, though he moved slowly. Her sharp nails, talons, pressed into the delicate skin of his forearm, bringing forth a small stream of crimson blood. She dragged him forward, bringing his hand towards her. Her hands clutched tightly onto his, pulling it to her face, resting the tip of her nose on it.

Her breath tickled his fingers, warm against the cold night. The sun had set, and the stars and moon rose high in the navy sky. The sound of a few crickets bounced from the leaves of the bushes around them, and then little bright lights began to float around them.

Fireflies.

"Shizuka, look." Sasuke mumbled, shaking the girl with his free hand.

The younger teen opened her mismatched eyes and slowly sat up. She brought her hands to her chest, letting his drop, and looked around. Her face showed a great wonder, and surprise. Her mouth hung open a bit, and her eyes widened, as she watched the little bugs light up the stream beside them. A smile graced her soft features as she stood. A giggle left her as she began to twirl, dancing around the field.

Clumsily, she spun, tripping every once and a while in a way that made you think that there was no way the girl was a ninja, much less a good one. Her eyes were still widened with wonder when she stopped and held a hand in front of his face.

Sasuke blinked, confused. "Come on, silly, get up. Dance with me." She said in that wind chime voice of hers. He ignored her but she leaned down and dragged him to his feet anyways.

Holding hands, they less actually danced and more just spun in circles. Dizzier and dizzier they got, in till the fireflies seemed less like little bugs and more like blurs. Finally they collapsed on the ground, on their backs. Shizuka groaned when Sasuke fell on her wing. He tried to sit back up only to clumsily fall back. He heard the most beautiful sound beside him, and noticed that Shizuka was laughing. Laughing at him.

He couldn't help but let out a chuckled, followed closely by a shiver from the cold that did not go unnoticed by the winged girl. She spun herself onto her side to face him and draped her oversized soft black wing over his body in place of his discarded sweater. She curled a bit closer to share the warmth, her face almost curled under his chin.

He smiled.

Not a half smile, or a smirk, but a real smile. For once, in that instant, he could truly say that he was happy. Happy enough to break down those walls he had built, even if only for that moment. He felt those doors opening for her, even when he tried to forced them closed again. He was happy, and in that moment, so was she.

"Tell me something." Shizuka mumbled.

Sasuke grinned. "Okay, um… 13 is the square root of 169, nothing rhymes with orange… um, a jiffy is actually a unit of time that means 1/100th of a second… um…" He offered up random facts.

She laughed. "Not anything, silly. Tell me something."

"Like what?" He asked.

"Hm… I don't know." She mumbled. "Hey Sasuke?"

"Ya?"

"Would you be sad if I died?"

He paused at her question. His gaze met hers for a spilt second and he couldn't help but respond truthfully.

"Of course. Would you be if I died?" He said.

Her eyes sparkled, the firefly light creating little golden sparks. She let out a small grin. "Of course I would silly. I don't even think that I could stay in Konoha because of the memories. What a silly question…" She mumbled.

"Promise me that you won't leave if anything happens to me, the baka would miss you." He whispered, thinking about Naruto. The blond idiot would go mad if they both left.

"Aa…" She mumbled, and with a chuckled commented. "I didn't know that you cared so much for Naruto, Sasuke? There something going on?" The girl laughed, leaning back to see his face better.

He scoffed. "As if, I'm only worried about the havoc that idiot could wreck trying to get you to come back to town."

She shook her head, and shuffled back towards him. It made him wonder.

"Where would you go?" He mumbled half-heartedly.

Shizuka hesitated. She truly didn't know. "If I left? I don't know, maybe I'd just wander the world for a while. I don't really have anywhere else to go. I guess I could go back to Akatsuki… no, I'm tired of living like that, always having to watch your back." She said in a somber voice.

He felt sorry for her in that aspect, despite his efforts to remain distant. He'd never had to do that. He came from a privileged family, in a very well off ninja village which gave him anything he wanted. He'd never known the feeling of never resting out of fear of a knife in the dark. Sure, he had nightmares, ones he didn't care to admit, about Itachi killing him, but he knew that Itachi held no interest in killing him, not yet at least. Sasuke had never known what it was like to never bring down his guard, even if he tried to never let it even when he didn't really need to have it up.

"Tell me about your brothers." He said.

"Tatsu-onii-san and Ryo-onii-sama?" Shizuka mumbled, in a tired sort of voice. He nodded, his chin brushing against the top of her head.

"Um, their really old, even if they both act like idiots, at least they used to. I don't even really remember how we met or when I started referring to them as my older brothers. As far as I can remember they were just there. They didn't live with us, but they came down to our house a lot, I never rally asked why. They're twins, but Ryoto's older. Um… they apparently didn't involve themselves with humans for years, then they just came around like they'd never left so I hear. They were just my best friends I guess. They were like any siblings, always bickering, but they always tried to protect me from everything because I was their 'little sister', you know?" She stopped talking and yawned.

Sasuke almost smiled again. With one hand he pushed up on the heavy wing above him, questioning a bit how she managed to lug those beasts around, and stood up. He put out his hand to help the girl up.

Shizuka stood gracefully, tucking away her wings, and gave him a confused look.

"It's getting late." He said simply before walking in the direction of home. Shizuka followed silently, walking right beside him. He chuckled at her expression when he walked right past the path to his house and continued walking with her towards her apartment.

"Walking me home, Sasuke? Wow, so chivalrous today! What a gentleman." She laughed when they approached her door. He shrugged not denying it.

He still didn't understand why he'd been acting like this. He never acted like this to anyone, and he was sure that had it been anybody else he wouldn't have walked them home, even if it was only a block or two out of his way. Shizuka was changing him. She seemed to have this ability to just make him do things that he wouldn't normally do.

He did notice everything. It wasn't just her behavior that was off, he had known, it was his as well. He acted strange when he was around her, and he couldn't put a name to the feeling in his stomach. It felt as if every time she came around his heart beat sped up, and not butterflies but angry wasps were in his stomach. Whenever he saw her he couldn't help but stare. He didn't understand why.

"It was the least I could do, all things considered. I did forget to buy you a present." He said, grinning down at the shorter girl.

Her eyes widened after a second, noticing what he had said.

He chuckled. "Happy birthday, Shizuka."

In that instant her face lit up the brightest he'd ever seen it. Her smile was a shy one, but somehow it managed to baffle him. Her eyes were wide, and as bright as the fireflies by the stream.

He didn't know what it was that made him do it, maybe it was her expression, maybe he just wasn't in the right mind (both possible…), but he did it. When her eyes flitted closed, just for a second, he couldn't stop himself.

One instant, he was leaning forward, tipping his head down towards her. The next, his cold lips brushed softly against hers, and the next he did the only thing he could think of. He ran for it.

-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-

AN: Ohhhhh! Bad Sasuke! You kissed her! Le Gasp! (*giggles like a maniac*) What ever will be her reaction?! Tell me what you think; will she react good, bad, or ignore it completely? Tell me!


	18. Breaking

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto… blarg.

Warning: Just in case, lol Shizuka swears in this chapter, though not too much. (According to me who grew up with an older sister who could make the most badmouthed sailor blush.) Oh, and well Sasuke OOC in this one I guess, but hey, love does strange things to people whether they admit they're in love or not.

Translation: _Imouto_ – little sister.

-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-

Chapter 17: Breaking

'_I… think my brain just shut down._' Shizuka thought, as she closed the door to her apartment. She collapsed on the couch in a huff, her mind reeling at what had just happened. Her hands shook, and her eyes were wide.

Sasuke, the emotionless, feeling less, bastard Uchiha Sasuke… had kissed her. His lips had just barely grazed hers, but it was still a kiss. Then, he just disappeared. Jerk.

Obviously, while Shizuka had still been in shock, Sasuke had run off, without explaining a thing. How had he managed to figure out that it was her birthday anyways? She'd never told anyone.

It was September 27th, well probably the 28th now, she had no idea what time it was. Her birthday. Just a few hours ago, she had turned fourteen years old. Kind of ironic in a way, losing her first kiss on her birthday. A Birthday kiss. The whole idea, silly as it was, was completely ruined by two things. One, he bolted the second after he'd kissed her, and two, it was Sasuke.

Sasuke… The Uchiha Sasuke had kissed her. It was the dream of all of Konoha's girls, but he kissed her. She'd never thought of him in that way… well, maybe a little bit, but that was beside the point. '_I-I mean he's a jerk, Teme. I couldn't possibly like him, no it was impossible. What am I even thinking?_' She thought. She couldn't possibly like Sasuke.

She admitted it, he was cute, but she wasn't like that, she never thought about boys. Plus, Sasuke was practically her best friend, or at least her best guy friend. It was awkward. She _didn't_ like him.

The more and more she thought about how he had just kissed her and run off, the more it pissed her off. How could he just run like that? Just leave her standing there, confused? Bastard.

Within a minutes or so, she'd gone from, a little pissed off, to full fiery rage. '_How dare he!_' She yelled in her thoughts. It didn't help that half of her mind was dreamily rattling on about how she'd liked the kiss, something that her more logical brain refused to admit. She didn't like Sasuke, damn it. She didn't.

With a glance at the clock, she realized that she must have been sitting there for at least an hour, on her couch, because it was already 1:30 a.m., and there was no way that she'd gotten home much later than midnight. It was too late to go confront Sasuke now, asshole.

('_God, I'm swearing a lot, I'm never like this, what the hell?_' She thought.)

Growling as she made her way to her bedroom, she promised, in all her rage, that come morning she was going to kill Uchiha Sasuke.

When morning came, Shizuka was less angry, but not necessarily any less irritable. She had to calm down; she kept telling her reflection in her bathroom mirror. Under her eyes, were the bags that came from a sleepless night, covered partially by the dark fringe of her hair. It was down, cascading down her back in waves. It had gained some wave from being in a tight bun 95% of the time. It was normally strait.

She sighed and rubbed her eyes clear. She looked like a complete and utter mess. She growled at herself as she pulled her hair up in a high pony tail instead of a bun. The dark waves still went past her shoulders. It was getting really long. She needed to cut it.

She laughed suddenly, what a thing to be thinking about while subconsciously plotting murder. That bastard Sasuke had better have a really good explanation as to why he had kissed her, because other wise, she was going to tear him to shreds. She still couldn't believe, much less understand, what had happened. Sasuke was an idiot.

After getting ready, she set out towards the training field, where she would be meeting team Kakashi in an hour. Shizuka figured that she might as well blow off some steam before they showed up. Sadly, when she got there, Sasuke was already there, waiting. He had one kunai out and was repeatedly throwing it at a target, perfectly, before pulling it back with ninja wire. His gaze was hard.

The instant he noticed her, standing a few feet away, his eyes widened and his aim missed, sending the kunai too far, into a tree behind the target. He stiffened. "Shizuka… I-um.." He nervously stuttered, completely out of character. He, she realized, was embarrassed.

"Yes, Sasuke?" She said in a cold tone.

He looked like he wanted to flinch, but his stupid pride wouldn't allow it. "I… um…" He mumbled, trying to think of what to say. Shizuka couldn't help but clench her fist. Bastard hadn't even managed to think of something to say, much less have any explanation.

"Look, Shizuka, I…" He looked away. "I shouldn't have done that."

She frowned and glared at him. "No, you shouldn't have. You gonna' explain why you did it or…?" She growled.

"I-err… I don't know."

Within a half second, Sasuke was pinned up against a tree, being choked by one very angry kunoichi. Shizuka hand wrapped around his neck, her nails biting into his skin.

"You. Don't. Know." She spurted in an icy tone. "Bastard! The least you could do is make up some stupid excuse. One that I could at least pretend to believe! You don't know! God, why the hell didn't you at least stick around instead of run off! You big jerk! I was so confused!"

"I—" Sasuke started.

Shizuka quickly cut him off. "How could you do that? I'm sorry if I just don't speak 'teenage boy' and running off is code for something, but God! What the hell! You- You kissed me! Do you know how confusing that was for me! I-I mean we're friends… right?" She got quiet.

Sasuke coughed, and quiet mumbled with his lack of air. "Shizuka… I-um… I'm… sorry."

Her hand on his neck clutched tighter for a moment, before dropping to her side. It was shaking, badly. She didn't say anything for a long time, neither of them did.

"Shizuka?" He whispered.

That caught her attention, and then yet again she was yelling at him.

"Y-You're sorry! That's all you can say! God, why are boys such idiots?—" Shizuka kept ranting while Sasuke stood there. She barely noticed when a pale icy blue chakra began to drift around her hand like mist. A mist that burned like lightning and fire.

Sasuke noticed, and took a step back but she only followed him forward. Soon, his back was against the tree once more, and Shizuka was barely a foot away.

"Shizuka! The seal! You need to calm down before—" He barely managed to get it out before a great chakra filled the air.

Shizuka let louse a scream, falling to her knees before him, shivering. A burning pain overtook her, and then darkness faded into her sight. She heard Ryoto's deep maniacal laughter, and then she was blind to the world. It did not last, soon she could she again, but it was not her who controlled her body.

- - -(Sasuke's POV)- - -

The air filled with the demon's chakra, burning it's way around in a eerie mist. When Shizuka regained her composure and stood, Sasuke immediately noticed that she was not herself. Her face was hard, her eyes cold. She stood stiffly for a moment, before her face twisted sickly.

Her normally gentle face broke into a maniacal grin, and a dark laughter filled the air. It was disgusting. It was a disgrace. Shizuka's laugh had always been beautiful, gentle. It was always like silver silk, soft but unbreakable. This laughter, no… It didn't belong to her. It was harsh, cold, and evil.

He couldn't bear to listen. He couldn't bear to look into those eyes knowing that he wouldn't see the girl he… the girl he loved, damn it! It was so wrong! He shouldn't care, but he did and now here it went again, disappearing like it had never existed. He prayed that she would fight back.

The look in her eyes was that of pure malice. No, Shizuka could never pull of that, she was too innocent. Sasuke almost chuckled; innocent wasn't the right word. Shizuka was beyond explanation. She could be angry, and feel hatred, but she was incapable of this.

Sasuke knew little of seals, but he enough that he knew that Shizuka was fighting it. If she wasn't her and Ryoto would have been completely detached by now. But she was fighting, he knew in that instant that she wouldn't give up.

When the demon in Shizuka's form attacked him, he was ready. He knew he needed to do his part. If Shizuka was to get Ryoto to stop, she would need Sasuke to distract him, even if it meant injuring her physical body.

He didn't know if he could play the part in which he was cast. He didn't know whether he could hurt her. He had grown weak. Against her he stood little chance and he knew it.

The demon, Ryoto, let out another dark cackle then turned his gaze to stare Sasuke in the eye. No Sharingan, no Byakugan. Sasuke smirked, that would make things easier. Obviously the dragon couldn't control them even inside Shizuka's body, not yet at least.

If it wasn't the laughter, the smile and the eyes that bothered Sasuke the most about this-this imposter, it was the voice. It was her voice, still _her _voice, only the words were wrong.

"So you're the Uchiha boy. Shizuka thinks about you a lot, it quite funny really." The demon smirked again, making a grim façade of Shizuka smile. "She loves you." At that he burst into full laughter again.

"You've ruined my plan, little human." Ryoto's glared a glare as hard as stone, switching emotions instantly as if he was two different people. "Because of you, imouto is fighting. She wants to live."

"I'm not the only reason." Sasuke mumbled, but the dragon ignored him.

"To think that such a pathetic little human could make her think that she could win against me. She will never win, she will die with the rest of her cursed clan. As she should have in the beginning. Perhaps…" He growled and smiled. "Yes… why waste my energy fighting imouto, she's much more of a pain. If I kill you however… she'll fall apart."

With a smirk the demon release a splash of chakra so powerful that on any normal day it might have been enough to knock Sasuke to his knees. Not today. Today, Sasuke was ready and he knew, he knew that today it was not only his life on the line, and for once he cared about another. He knew that he did not have any margin for error, and so error he would not make.

Sasuke smirked and darted to the side as the demon rushed forward. He laughed as he simply keeps dodging the dragon as he blindly rushed forward. Avoiding blind rushing was practically Sasuke specialty; a sign of too many battles with Naruto.

Ryoto growled each time Sasuke avoided him, loudly enough for someone to hear for quite a distance. Someone would come by to help soon, hopefully before Sasuke got skinned by the giant talking lizard.

Between the laughter, growls, smirks and scowls, very few blows were laid. The demon dodged every one of Sasuke hits and Sasuke his. It was really going nowhere. That is in till the demon actually tried to kill him rather than play with him like a child does with it's food.

A high pitched laugh, soft and gentle, distracted him. It was her voice, still her voice; and Ryoto would use that to his advantage. In the second that Sasuke froze, the demon spun, almost joyfully, like Shizuka with the fireflies, behind him. He saw it, but he couldn't move. But here, Ryoto made his mistake, he dropped the gentle laughter for a more sinister one.

Sasuke felt the barely there wind from a foot aimed at his back, and in half an instant flashed around, barely visible, and caught it. Shizuka foot hit his hand with a great force, but it wasn't enough. Before a reaction could be made, he pulled the demon forward, slid to the slid, spun and landed a solid kick on the back of her head with his heel, forcing her face into the ground.

Ryoto caught himself before he hit the grass, and stood. It was the same thing over and over, again and again. The demon would land a little hit, and Sasuke would land a little hit, anything more than that would be avoided. It was all Sasuke could do to keep up with it.

They danced together in a dangerous game of death. One way or another, it was almost sure to end that way, and nothing could stop it. In the depths of his thoughts, beneath the instinctual need to survive that clouded his brain, he repeated, over and over, one word. '_Why?'_

He prayed to whichever god who would answer that he be able to win this fight. It felt as if none would answer.

In his mental haze, he was distracted by his own pleading thoughts. It wasn't like him to be distracted but for some obscure reason, he was. Within the few moments that he could not focus, Ryoto had managed to sneak up behind him. He was oblivious in till he was hit.

A powerful kick landed in the very center of his back, bending it the wrong way for an instant before it pushed him forward with a speed that shouldn't have been. He landed with an ungraceful thump on the ground, an eerie cough escaping his lips. Crimson liquid dripped down his chin, another cough making more sputter out to the ground beneath him. His arms shook, sore and covered in small scrapes from putting them out to delay his fall. It didn't work. He stood, barely able to balance, dizzy from the hit.

It took him a moment to understand. That hit had been much, much stronger then any others. Ryoto had only been playing with him before, laughing at his death like it meant absolutely nothing to him. It did mean absolutely nothing to him, and that may have been what scared Sasuke the most. Ryoto was conscious less, forever laughing at death, and smiling at the though of bringing it.

Before him stood a very grinning demon, using Shizuka face as bait. What would happen, he thought, if he were to walk around town? Would anyone recognize him as who he really was? Sasuke didn't think that anyone could, not in less he wanted to be known. Ryoto was just as good an actor as a fighter, he could tell.

With a snarl, Sasuke flung himself forward, ignoring the pain in his limbs. It did him no good. The demon spun to the side and gave him a gentle hit over the head, like a parent would a child. He jumped out of the way before Sasuke could land a hit, laughing in that same dark tone.

He tried another few jutsu, and another blind rush forward; nothing was working. That hit had done even more damaged then he had first believed. His head still felt like it was spinning.

Ryoto snuck sneakily behind him when he took his eye off the demon for an instant, and landed another hit, so similar to that last one, a harsh unforgiving kick to the back. Sasuke was flung forward once again, smashing down on the hard ground of the field, immobile.

He lay there for a few moments at most, completely still, groaning internally at the pain of the fall, when he heard a small scream behind him. It was Shizuka.

He didn't understand how he knew it wasn't just Ryoto using her voice, but he did. He knew, it really was her. Her consciousness, her voice screaming.

He forced himself to turn , even partially to catch a glimpse of the girl, while he still lay in the dirt. She was down on her knees, shaking violently, clutching the arm where the seal was fading quickly. Directly behind her, it's head leaning over her, was the semi-transparent shape of a wingless dragon.

-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-

An: Sorry that this came out so late! Life has been complicated. High school is annoying. Lame excuses, I know.

Anyways, announcement!

I will be rewriting Daughter of the Blackbird. The new version will pretty much be the same, but with a few different tweaks to Shizuka whole back story and Mary-sue-ness. So it will be different. I'm sure that a few people don't care about the Mary-sue-ness of this story and would like to continue to read this version, and so I devised the plan to continue to write this version as well as the rewrite.

I will be writing a lot over these Christmas holidays (I've got a lot of time off, it like 2-2 ½ weeks.). Be ready for plenty of updates, hopefully. This of course depends on how many times my family decides to drag me away from the house, and how many times my mother kicks me off my laptop for spending to much time on it.


	19. Onii-sama

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Translate (even though I'm sure you know): Onii-sama (big brother)

& Ryo-o-nii (big brother Ryo)

-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-

Chapter 18: Onii-sama (back to Shizuka's Pov btw)

Shizuka could see Sasuke as he forced himself to turn, even partially to catch a glimpse of her, while he still lay in the dirt. She knew that he would see her down on her knees, shaking violently, clutching the arm where the seal was fading quickly, her obsidian wings shivering. Directly behind her, her brother's leering head was leaning over her. His body wasn't completely unsealed, even if his spirit was. The shape was but the semi-transparent form of a wingless dragon.

It was blurry, just coming to focus.

It wasn't Ryoto in full, for he had no physical form, but simply chakra and a conniving consciousness linked together. He was almost free, and in less she stayed strong, his body would be freed as well.

She caught a glimpse of Sasuke grimacing and attempting to drag his sore body off the ground. Then in the blink of an eye, Shizuka jumped up and was there crouched beside him. There eyes only met for an instant, before she turned back to the focusing image of her brother.

She knew that Sasuke had seen the sadness and the guilt in her eyes. He seemed to always be able to tell when something was off, even when she refused to show it.

Her brother roared a deep roar. Then when he closed his gaping maw a low growl breeched past his snarling sharp teeth. He glared at her, no look of regret in his eyes. His mind was completely gone, filled only by the fires of rage and hate; and she couldn't understand it. What had happened to her brother? Her Onii-sama? She didn't believe that she'd ever understand.

She flinched when she met his eyes. Those eyes, an almost icy pale blue, had once been so gentle with her. They were no longer soft; they held none of the love that the demon himself had once held for her. He was no longer her brother. He was no longer her family, just a mockery of what once had been.

His body was long, easily the length of four grown men, and thin, barely the size of one around. He had a muzzle like a giant dog with overgrown fangs and horns the length of her forearm sprouting from his skull. He was wingless, with four strong legs, each with four toes like the talons of a bird of prey, three forward, and one behind. When he flew he floated like a ribbon in the wind, having no need for wings.

The nearly black scales that covered his body, along with his almost silvery ice blue mane that rippled down his spine, were dirty, greasy. In many ways it hurt her to see him this way. Such a proud beast, a rusty mess. Yet in some ways it gave her a sort of pleasure, it was revenge. She had stolen the freedom of what was essentially a wild animal, caged it and let it rot. She had done this to the one who had mercilessly slaughter her people. It was revenge to the highest degree, without the untidiness of murder.

She both reveled in this horrible feeling of success and cried the tears of betrayal at how she had done this to someone she had once loved. No… someone she wishes she could still love. She felt tears slip from her eyes for even if he was the one to betray her first, she still felt as if she had betrayed him.

Ryoto snapped his mouth open and shut a few times, growling and snarling loudly. His head inched its way toward her, a grin on his canine face. His head was double, triple, the size of hers and he held it a mere foot away from her. His eyes stared down her face, giving it a once over, twice over, maybe even a trice over. No-one dared move, not him, not her, not even Sasuke.

The boy was on his feet now at least. Shizuka could see him standing behind her with her Byakugan. His breathing was still harsh, his chest sure to be aching from the kick and then the fall. She ignored him though, for she knew that he could no longer help her. She didn't want him to help her any more. She didn't want him to have that responsibility.

She turned her thoughts back to her broth- the demon. He was still just staring, not even growling now, and for some reason that felt worse then the fighting. It left silence, and silence let her mind wander to the worst of possibilities. It was always the worst that her mind wandered to, never the best. So much for wishful thinking, she was never one for it anyways.

She closed her eyes slowly, before slipping them gently open again, Ryoto analyzing her the entire time. Her breathing calmed. She sniffled and held a hand out towards the demon and when he didn't react to it, gently placed it on the side of his large head. She let out a deep breath, and gave him a small smile.

She never let go of that smile, that sad, sad smile, for she knew that no matter what she or he did, he would always be her brother. She watched as his eyes gave up any glare and simply stared, never blinking. She kept that smile and simply stared just like him, never blinking.

She sniffled again, not letting herself cry. She let down her hand, placing it at her side. She smiled knowing that this would be the end, one way or another. She never let go of that smile, even when hopeless words passed through her lips.

"I'm sorry, Onii-sama…I really am… but weren't you going to kill me?"

Barely a second later, Ryoto lunged towards her and she had pulled herself up into the air on her wings. They beat against the sky in attempt to stay afloat. Ryoto growled threateningly beneath her, warning her to come down, or he would come up. She landed without a sound to the dragon's side. The demon spun to the side, his great body lumbering making the ground shake. In the distance behind him, Shizuka could see the outline of two people running towards them.

With a roar loud enough to be heard across Konoha, the demon lunged toward her again. She jumped out of the way nimbly. He lunged, she dodged. And so they danced. Back and forth they went.

Still she smiled. He snarled, she smiled. He growled, she sniffled and smiled. He roared, she ignored his rage with a smile.

This would be over soon, she prayed. Soon it would be done. She didn't know how much longer she could stand to watch her brother decay into a mere beast. She didn't think that she could stand these conflicting emotions for much longer.

She spared a glance at Sasuke, and took note that Tsunade and Jiraiya had appeared beside him. Tsunade was trying to get him to stay still so `that she could heal his wounds, but he kept trying to get to Shizuka. Jiraiya was staring at Ryoto. When he glance at Shizuka, she was still smiling sadly, her gaze on her brother.

Ryoto was crouched in front of her, glaring and snarling. He snapped his head towards her, and she ducked. He tried again, lower, and she jumped up to the skies. She landed again a second later, behind him.

"Come on, Ryo-o-nii, you'll have to do better than that if you wish to kill me." She laughed.

She sounded eerily happy as she laughed at death. It felt as if she was trying to fool herself into thinking that he couldn't kill her. Why not be in denial in the end?

The dragon let out a roar and lunged again. She still smiled. It was all she could do.

"Hey kid! How long do you think you can hold him off?" A loud voice reached her ears. Jiraiya was planning something. Was he going to try to reseal Ryoto? Probably.

"Long enough!" She lied. She knew that wasn't the case. She had always known.

Shizuka could see Jiraiya preparing something out of the corner of her eye. She kept dodging her brother, never attacking. It wouldn't do any good. He couldn't be injured in this state by anything but Genjutsu, and she wasn't willing to risk using the only one she knew that was strong enough to use against him. He had no physical form after all, only mental damage would do the trick.

It didn't exactly take her long to realize how easy he was going on her. It did however to realize why he bothered.

She was smiling, and he still cared.

She could see it in his eyes.

She almost wanted to frown.

The fight continued, if it could even be called that. Uneventful and never ending, were good ways to describe their fight. Lunge, dodged, lunge, dodge. Over and over. They didn't really want to attack each other. It was easy to tell.

Ryoto and Shizuka's eyes met again, as if looks could kill and save them the trouble. It was then, in that moment that almost appeared to play in a twisted slow-motion, that they were interrupted. A large fireball burned its way towards Ryoto, Sasuke behind it. It went right through the demon, of course, for he could not be injured by physical attacks, but it made him angry.

He wasted no time letting out a bone-shattering roar, and clawing with his enormous talons towards where Sasuke stood, between him and Shizuka. It was so fast, and there was so much smoke from the fire ball which burned the soft, damp grass. Their vision was muddled, but still Shizuka saw it. The demon's foot, almost upon Sasuke's side. He wouldn't be able to dodge.

Her smile faded.

- - -(Sasuke's Pov)- - -

He had underestimated it, miscalculated, made a mistake. He should have known. He should have realized. Now it was his fault. It would always be his fault.

Blood sprayed into his smoke blurred vision, and it wasn't his.

He could hear yelling. Jagged pieces of speech that were missing parts, and words.

" – Jiraiya, now!"

" – not ready, too soon. Is she –?"

" – Hurry up, idiot! She's –"

The only not muffled noises he could hear were the pained screeches of an injured eagle. He knew strangely that it wasn't an eagle. It wasn't an eagle at all. He stood up shakily, turning his eyes on the small body curled on the ground, even when every instinct told him to keep them on the dragon before him.

Shizuka was curled up, face covered by one of her wings. He couldn't see her mouth move, but he could tell that the noises came from her. She was screaming. She was in so much pain that she had reverted to animal noises instead of human ones.

Tsunade was beside her, trying to pull her wing out of the way. It only took her a second but as soon as she did, Sasuke wished she hadn't. Shizuka's face was covered in blood. Her mouth hung open, emanating slowly dying cries.

He flinched and looked away. His gaze landed on the demon standing in the same place he had been before. Ryoto was frozen, eyes wide, staring at the girl. He looked whole now, no longer a spirit, but in full body. His mane rippled with real wind, his scale shone even though coated with dirt in real sunlight. He stood awkwardly balanced on three legs, one held up. The one he was holding, scrunched to his chest, had claws coated in blood.

The dragon looked shocked. Too shocked to move, Sasuke thought, just before the demon did. He stood back down on four legs, claws scraping the ground. A soft growl began to emanate from his throat. His head shook side to side violently once or twice, before it rear up and bellowed out a great roar. He quickly lost his breath for the sound, and lowered his head.

He stayed like that for a second, before raising his head again. He roared once more, but this time Sasuke heard with it, perhaps only in his head, the demon's voice screaming with the growl. It yelled out a name, one that took Sasuke several moments to recognize. _"Tatsuhiro!"_

Shizuka's other brother; the demon's twin.

Ryoto belted out the name several times, to no answer. He dropped it with a whine that sounded more suited for a small dog then a dragon. His head fell once more.

He didn't move after that for a while, only staring blankly at the girl on the ground. When at last her cries died, he closed his eyes a turned towards Sasuke.

Sasuke eyes met the demons. Ryoto looked strangely docile. A gentle growl escaped his throat. His scaled body slipped down to the ground with a thump. His neck fell down, followed by his head and he blinked before gazing at Sasuke once more. He lay on his side, with his stomach and neck clearly visible.

Sasuke eyes widened when he realized what that move meant. The dragon was waiting for Sasuke to kill him. He let out a huff of air like a sigh and closed his eyes, waiting for death. He wanted it, just like Shizuka. He wanted it to be over.

Sasuke had to wonder if Shizuka had known. If she'd known that she would die, and then so would Ryoto. If she had planned it. He wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to know either way.

It was in that moment, when Sasuke took that first step forward, still doubting this possibility of a demon's suicide, that Jiriaya stepped up. With the seal ready, and chakra honed, he stepped forward with a determined stride.

In half an instant, Ryoto was gone. Less then a minute later, so was Shizuka.

Soon only Sasuke was left standing there. To stop his incessant shaking, he leaned against a tree. In a few seconds, he slid to the ground. An instant later, he was asleep.

- - -(Shizuka's pov)- - -

"_Wake up, imouto. It's time for you to come back now. Come home now, Shizuka." _

_Shizuka's eyes opened slowly. At first all she registered was the color black. Black wings, black scales. Her wings, her brother's scales. Her brother. Her Ryo-o-nii. _

"_I'm over here, imouto." His deep voice whispered. _

_Shizuka tuned her head, and laid her eyes on her brother. "I am sorry, little one. I have hurt you badly." He mumbled. _

_She didn't answer. He laid, long snake-like body wrapped around her, with his head to the side. She ran her fingers through the now clean and soft mane that rippled along his spine. She patted his scales on his side softly, and looked towards him. He let out a huff of air, and craned his neck around. His head fell gently on her lap. _

"_I am sorry, imouto. I never meant for this to happen." He mumbled, apologizing again._

"_I know." She told him, gently. _

"_I'm sorry." He whispered again. _

_She smile sadly again and gently scratched his head. He growled out a growl that was almost a purr. He lifted his head and looked her in the eye. _

"_I know that I will never be forgiven, but please known that I am truly sorry. I'm sorry… for everything. For the massacre, and the sealing, and the threats, and—?" _

_Shizuka cut him off. "You're forgiven, brother."_

_He fell silent, eyes widening a bit. "But—?"_

"_I know, Ryo-o-nii. I'm always known." She told him._

"_You knew…"He whispered to himself._

"_I saw him, that day. My uncle. He was controlling you, like a puppet. I saw him. How could he control you, brother? How could you let him? Shizuka cried, angrily. _

"_Do you remember those times, when I would disappear for a while?" He asked. She nodded. _

"_I told you once, that there were other dragons in the world right? Well those days I went to go and see my mate and pups. They lived far to the north of us, just outside of Lightning country's borders. Well that day, I went to go see them, and I stopped flying for some water near Kumo. A team of their ninja attacked me, and because I was distracted with the thoughts of going to see my family, they managed to knock me out. When I woke up I was chained, drugged and in my human form. Your uncle, the Raikage, was there. He was going to take me up to his study, said that he wanted a word with me, properly. We never really made it that far. On the way we passed a cell, and in it was my family. Incentive, he called it." Ryoto paused, and Shizuka patted his side again to help him stay calm._

"_He told me he'd kill them if I fought. So I didn't. I never knew what he had planned. I never knew that he'd do something so horrible."_

_It went silent for a long while. _

_It was Shizuka who broke the silence, with a comment that was completely opposite of what he was sure to have though she would say. _

"_I hope that they're alright." She said with a frown. "Your children and their mother, I mean."_

_Ryoto let his tense muscles fall and smiled a wolfish grin. "They are. One night when you were asleep, Tatsuhiro leaned over you and said that they were safe. I don't know how I heard it, but I did, and I know he wouldn't lie."_

"_Why were you still all crazy inside the seal? And why are you all normal now?" Shizuka mumbled. _

"_I'm sorry for that. You see, when your mother, who was not entirely dead yet, tweaked with the seal in order to save your life, something got messed up. The seal was formed already half broken. Inside, as soon as your uncles control was broken, the power of the seal itself attacked me relentlessly in till I was driven mad." Ryoto explained. "I'm better now, almost back to normal, because when the seal was completely broken, I was free of that pain. I'm sealed now again, but this seal given enough time to be put together properly. Hope you don't mind having me in your head again, imouto. I promise that I'll behave this time." He laughed, and laid his head back down in her lap. _

_And then, Shizuka smiled, this time for real. This time she smiled because finally, she was truly happy._

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AN: Well hell, I'm getting really close to my sort of middle ish ending thing. (That I'm debating ending and not doing shippuden, actually)

This was interesting.

Now out of curiosity, and I'm sure that no-one will answer anyways, but did anyone catch the actual meaning behind the whole "She almost wanted to frown." Part? To those that didn't, she meant that she wanted to die, but didn't because she promised that she wouldn't give up.


	20. Waking up

An: It's almost over… maybe… I'm really not sure… I thought that maybe this might be the last chapter but it didn't work out that way.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or anything related to it. I only own Shizuka, she's mine.

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Chapter 19: Waking up

She remembered a great many days floating in and out of consciousness. Or at least it felt like a great many days. She was never conscious enough to ask how long it had really been. A few times she opened her eyes, but her one eyed vision was always blurry. All she could distinguish was that the walls around her were white and there was always someone in the room.

A few times when she was awake, or sort of awake, she heard people talking. Their voices always sounded as if she was hearing them through water. She figured that it was probably Tsunade most of the time. She was sure that she'd seen the flash of the Hokage's green coat a few times, but that might have been her imagination. She was walking a very fine line between reality and imaginary.

She spent her time dreaming. Sometimes she had nightmares, like how she always did, but sometimes, she'd have nice dreams. She didn't speak to Ryoto again after that first time, shortly after she'd been injured. She could feel him thought, always there, inside her head. Their existence was a silent one, but they both agreed that it was for the best.

Slowly she realized that her dreams were becoming shorter, and the time she spent half awake was becoming longer. It was moving slow, but she was awakening. Somewhere inside her head she was sure that it was more because she was still trying to get over the fact that she was alive and not because she was actually wounded. She had always healed quickly, even before becoming a Jinchuriki.

The day that she first woke fully was the first day that no one was in the room. She blinked her cloudy eyes, peering around with her one good eye. Slowly the blur that had clouded her vision receded and she could distinguish the layout of the room. Object came into focus, the blanket draped over her thin body, the metal bar at the end of the hospital bed, the edge of the window sill and above it tacky gray curtains. It was finally coming back to her.

She took a deep breath. It smelt like cleaning supplies and medicine, a disgusting smell, but it only proved again the notion that she was alive. She wouldn't trade it for anything. The air felt cold and crisp, probably very similar to the outside where, despite the sun that she could see peeking through the blinds, it was cold.

She listened to the gentle beeping of the heart monitor at her side, and honed her ears to the sound of the breeze outside and the footsteps of others outside her door. She clenched her fingers under the blanket, and was relieved that she could. She dragged her hand up and sat it in her lap. She sat half-sitting, half-laying in the bed, leaning against a pile of pillows her hair pulled into a loose ponytail behind her back. Someone had made sure that she was comfortable, thankfully. Her bones ached slightly, but she could tell it was just from being in the same position for so long.

She lifted her hands noticing dully that no seal was any longer burnt into her palm. She gently touched the tight bandage over the left side of her face. It didn't hurt, but that might have been because of the IV that was constantly pumping drugs into her system.

She jumped and dropped her hand when a voice spoke out. "How are you feeling?" Her gaze flipped up to see the Hokage smiling at her from the door.

The woman was leaning against the door frame, a fond smile on her face. Shizuka smiled back as much as she could. It stung a bit, but that was to be expected. "Strangely alive." She responded with a loose grin.

The Hokage laughed. "I guess you'll be alright then. Want to see your oversize pill of get well crap?"

"Sure." The child said.

Tsunade turned took a few steps outside and dragged in a wheeled cart covered with get well cards and flowers. She pulled the thing behind her to Shizuka's beside and sat down on the edge of the mattress. "Ahh let's see. We have Hinata, Tenten, Neji, Lee… oh is that Temari! Yup." Tusnade peeked around the cards, pulling out one and throwing at the bed ridden girl.

Shizuka opened it, eyeing the little "Love Temari & her stupid brothers." written in the bottom corner.

She looked back up at Tsunade's chuckle. "I found Naruto's." She said, lifting it up. Shizuka couldn't help but laugh. It was a cup of instant ramen, with a red bow tied to it and a sticky note that read "Because hospital food sucks! Now hurry up and get better! –Naruto."

"That sounds like him." She smiled. "How long have I been out?"

"Four days." The woman paused.

Tsunade opened her mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by the opening of the door by one angry Shizune. The black haired assistant glared at the blond woman, lounging about on the edge of the bed. "Tsunade-sama, you're supposed to be working!" Her voice was quiet, but angry. It was very obvious that she wanted to yell but didn't because she though that Shizuka was still asleep.

"Ya, ya, whatever. I had to come see how Shizuka was doing. She just woke up. As a doctor yourself I'm sure you understand. A patient's health is important." Tsunade smiled attempting to appease her raging student.

"Ah… Hello, Shizuka-san. Now, Shishou, get back to work. Playing the devoted doctor won't get you out of doing paperwork." Shizune grumbled, walking forward and dragging the Hokage towards the door.

The blond woman went along, letting herself be pulled along by the arm. "I think that there was a book somewhere in that pile if you get bored!" She called back to the young teen on the bed, throwing a glance at the pile of, as she had called it, "get well crap".

Shizuka waved as the two left.

She sighed when the room became quiet again. She had enjoyed the momentary break from her thoughts, but it had been over much too quickly. She supposed that it was too much to hope that someone else would come by. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to sit here alone for hours with nothing but her own thoughts to keep her busy.

She leaned over to look for the book that Tsunade had mentioned but didn't see it. She shook her head. Next time someone came by she would ask them to run to her apartment and grab her a few books. She wasn't sure how much longer she would be stuck here but with her short attention span she knew that she couldn't sit here with absolutely nothing for days.

She managed to fend off extreme boredom for about an hour before she started taping her fingers against her leg. She was tempted to try and stand and walk around a little, but she could feel that her legs were still shaky. She growled, and pulled herself up anyways. She ripped the heart meter off and shut the machine down with a click. The sound was annoying her.

She shoved the blanket off her body, and swung her legs to the side of the bed. She sat, leaning on the edge, her toes not quite reaching the floor, with her hands resting on either side of her thighs on the mattress. She shook her head, feeling the tight bandages on her face pulling at her dark hair. It felt weird for her hair to be down.

With one hand holding onto the IV holder, and one on the bed, she pushed herself onto her feet. She wobbled for a moment, but kept her balance as she managed to walk to the light switch. She flicked it off before feeling her way to the window on the opposite side of the room. She pulled aside the curtains revealing the bright midday sun. She must have been on the top floor of the hospital to be able to have this view. The sun bounced off every surface around, from the roofs to the windows.

It was nice out, really nice even if it was a bit cold.

She stood at the window for a while, staring out into the distance. Sometimes she watched people as they went about their everyday lives, and noticed how this place really wouldn't be the same without all the normal people, the civilians as they went about in the hustle and bustle. Konoha really would be a quiet and boring place without all the insanity.

She watched as slowly less and less people began to flood the nearby streets. The sun began to set and the younger adults made their way towards the bars and clubs farther off. The older people began to walk home, and parents started to drag their children out of the park.

She watched time pass, alone in her room. She watched as day turned to night, and finally when the moon rose high she turned and walked back towards the bed. It wasn't long after she'd curled up on the uncomfortable mattress that she fell into a deep sleep.

- - -(Sasuke's Pov)- - -

_Click_. The door slid open, and he peeked inside to make sure the room's resident was asleep. His eyes widened when he noticed that she was awake. Not only awake, but standing.

Sasuke stared, standing in the doorway silently. Shizuka stood, palms pressed against the cold glass of the window, staring out into the night. She was meagerly dressed in a hospital gown that was longer then it was supposed to be on her short stature. Her hair was thrown in a loose ponytail at the base of her neck, where it extended all the way to her tail bone. He couldn't see her face, but he knew that it was well covered by multiple bandages. A white bandage curled around her forehead and the back of her head, he could see it.

The city lights, bright against the darkness outside, hit the window in an array of colors, dully lighting the dark room. The neon lights gave Shizuka's hair a faint red glow.

He stood there watching her for quite a while. Him, watching her watching the night. When he saw the slight twitch in her arm, the only movement she had made the whole time, he knew that she would turn. He knew her movements so well that he didn't even need to try to read them anymore. He understood that now.

He understood everything now. He could almost feel her feelings, but that wasn't new. Ever since the mission to the cursed temple, where they had spent so much time in that illusion together, he had been able to sense her. He saw her now. All off her. And strangely, he wasn't scared or worried about it any more. He didn't care.

He didn't care that he'd promised himself never to get close to another person, because she had wormed her way into his heart and there was nothing he could do to fight it anyways. He didn't care that slowly, he'd been forced to accept that Naruto really was his best friend. He didn't really even care that he could see himself changing.

He had never believed when people had told him that you become stronger when you have something to protect. He had believed in his power, his hatred, his revenge, but… he'd learnt that there was more to power. There was more to this thing people called life, and he had a chance to make it his.

Shizuka began to turn, but Sasuke spun outside the door, and slid it part way closed behind him, hoping that she wouldn't notice. He watched through the crack of the door as the girl slid into the bed and fell asleep. He waited in till he heard her breathing calm down and her heartbeat slow. When he felt certain that she was comfortably asleep, he silently entered the room.

He frowned when he saw the bandages on her face. It wasn't the first time he'd seen them. It wasn't even the first time he'd snuck into the hospital at night. Thankfully at least she looked peaceful.

"Came to check on her again?" A woman's voice spoke behind him.

He looked up to see Tsunade standing at the door. He nodded, and looked back towards Shizuka. The Hokage walked up and stood beside him. She placed a gentle hand down on the bandaged side of the girl's face.

"It's pretty bad, but it's healing fast. Perks of being a Jinchuriki I guess…" Tsunade paused, and he knew that she was trying to read his reactions. "She was awake today, you know."

He nodded. "I know. She was still up when I got here."

"Did you talk to her?"

He shook his head and then looked down at the pile of get well cards and flowers that sat on a cart on the other side of the bed. He moved over to them, and began to organize them into a somewhat decent order. Tsunade eyed the boy while he rearranged Shizuka's things, before he pushed the cart against the back wall.

"Why didn't you say anything?" She questioned, not really expecting an answer. She knew his attitude.

He shrugged, and didn't respond.

The Hokage shook her head, blond pigtails swishing to the side. "Take care of her, Sasuke. She needs you. Her body may be healing on its own, but her mind won't." And with that Tsunade made her grand exit of the room, closing the door softly behind her.

Sasuke sat immobile for several moments, thinking over her words. He knew that she was right. Shizuka needed him, just as much as he needed her.

He noticed even before the girl in the bed flinched that she was having a nightmare. He didn't move immediately from his spot across the room. Shizuka flinched and emitted a soft whimper of fear. He walked slowly towards her.

She seemed to calm down just by his presence. She stopped flinching as soon as he neared her, but she still sported a grim visage. He sat down on the edge of the mattress. Without thinking he reached an arm out, and touched her arm with his fingers.

Her expression lightened up a bit and he moved his hand to her face. He was careful not to touch the bandages, as if they would burn him. He cupped her sleeping face in his palm, and gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. She calmed down almost immediately, curling onto her side and catching his hand between hers unconsciously.

He almost smiled, in till he again took notice of the bandages. He couldn't help but think again that it was his fault. He knew that it was. If he hadn't interfered…

She had jumped to save him, the idiot. She'd sacrificed herself. For him.

He couldn't understand why, but then he was force to remember the night before, with the fireflies. Their world seemed to revolve around things like that. She had said that she never could stay in Konoha if he died. That she would miss him too much. But he would miss her too, and she knew that. So why?

She had almost died. Tsunade had told him that there was little doubt, that she would have, had Ryoto not pulled back in the last second. Sasuke was just surprised that he really had tried not to hurt her, even if he had been to late. He wasn't sure whether he really believed it.

Shaking his head, Sasuke slowly pulled his hand out from Shizuka's grip, and lifted the blankets to make sure that she was covered. He sifted the pillows so that she could be more comfortable and then turned away.

He opened the door, and looked to the side. On the ground sat a little potted plant. A flower with white and purple pedals. He'd forgotten about it.

He sighed and bent down to pick it up. He paused to look at it. It was pretty, but that was all he knew. When he'd picked it up for the Yamanaka's flower shop earlier that day, Ino had been rambling on about some sort of meaning, but he hadn't really paid attention. Flowers weren't his thing, at all. He didn't care and he was 100% sure that neither would Shizuka. She, like him, would look at it and think it was pretty and nothing more. He didn't know why he bothered.

With a shake of his head, loosening his tangled black hair, he placed the flower with the others and turned to leave. He walked to the door in silence like everything else he's done in the past few days. He paused at the open door, and looked back.

He could faintly see a small smile on Shizuka's lips, and reassured, he left, closing the door softly behind him.

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An: Bam! Finally! Sorry that took so long. I'm an idiot. This will not be the last chapter obviously. I can't leave it like that, not only would it piss you off but it would piss me off. Hopefully the next chapter will be posted soon. I was going to say something else but… I forgot. Oh well. Goodbye, I'm going to go get some much needed sleep now.


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